The ability to reschedule work when my child needs me is one of the best things about working from home. I made the decision to work from home before I got pregnant because I wanted to have the flexibility of being there for my baby when she needs me. This perk has downsides, however, which are frequent problems for many work-at-home parents. Your family calls asking for favors, your spouse expects you to be able to do the shopping during the day, your friends think you can do playdates and long lunches, and your kids ask you to volunteer for every field trip and class project.

The key to success is to be able to establish boundaries and say "NO". To illustrate this, here are some of the myths about being a parent who works from home, and how to handle each of them:

• Working from home means no child care expenses.
  This is only true for a short period of time when you have one child, or when your child enters school full time if you work part time. When my daughter was younger than a year, I could reduce hours and get away with working while she was asleep, with occasional phone calls while we were on a walk. As she grew older, napped less, and got into more trouble, this became impossible. I started hiring in-home nannies when my daughter was about 18 months old, and then moved on to sending her to childcare part-time. While it is tempting to watch your child and work at the same time, they both deserve your full attention. So focus on work when it is time to work by finding other things for your child to do, and when your child comes home for the day, you can give 100% of your attention to him/her.
• Working from home means that you are available.
  I had to stop taking most personal calls during the day, because my family did just not get it. I could not be paying for childcare and doing their favors at the same time. Just as you would not take an excessive amount of personal calls during the day if you were working somewhere else, limit your personal calls while you are working from home.
• Since you’re not doing anything …
  I don’t know why working from home means you have the time to volunteer for every school function or club outing. If it’s important to you and you can work around it, by all means do so. Otherwise, learn to say no, because your clients are counting on you just as much as the school’s bake sale is.
• You can be it all: Suzy Homemaker, Super Mom, Career Woman.
  Speaking of bake sales, it’s okay to let yourself off the hook and show up with store-bought cookies, or to admit that you don’t have time to clean the whole house with a looming deadline. You wouldn’t take off the day to help your son with the project he procrastinated on if you worked outside the home, so why do it for him just because you work from home? You don’t have to be everything to everyone—just set reasonable expectations for yourself and stick to those.
• You can multitask home and work life.
  It’s better to separate the two and be fully present in each at the appropriate times. Set aside a space and time for you to do your work, do it during that time, and then walk away and be full present with your family. I do understand that some juggling will occur, but try to not make it a regular habit.

Additional Resources

• Balancing Work and Family as a Home-Based Entrepreneur
• Family Issues Facts, Balancing Work and Family
• 6 Tips for Balancing Entrepreneurship and Family
• Balancing Work and Family from About.com Career Planning
• An examination of the role of emotional intelligence in work and family conflict (a research report)
• 40 Mom-Tested Tips for Balancing Work and Family from iVillage
• Balancing Act at BlueSuitMom

Reader Question

How do you find a balance between work and home life? Do you have any tips to share?

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