WAHM Writers
Working From Home and Time Management
by Jamie Edson Opielski
The familiar sound of boop- boop- boop rang out from my office followed by screeching off- toned rings. I made my way back to the office to see one of my four year old twin boys sitting in the chair typing away on the keyboard. After I cancelled the fax he was sending to Korea I asked him just what he thought he was doing, his reply was 'Hi mom, I'm working on my puter and I'm doing my work'. A couple of replies that were all too familiar- they were mine. It made me realize that kids do model the things that they see you do whether you notice it or not. I figured it was time for a break so I pried his cheeto coated fingers off of the keyboard and took him and his twin brother outside for some much needed play time. My work as usual will still be there when we come back in.
This brings me to managing my time; work, family, housework, other. It all incorporates into Time Management. When working from home with small children giving them a great deal of time and then having the discipline to get back to work are the two that weigh heaviest. Each day, for me, is never the same. I don't keep an hour by hour schedule, but I do set time frames to complete or get to a certain point of what needs to be done with my work. If I were to set a schedule and say I am going to work three hours straight on a project before I start on some housework, ex: start at 9am and stop at 12pm that would actually be ideal. But with small children at home- it's not. At least for me it isn't. In between those three hours there will be numerous times I'll have to stop what I am doing and tend to the boys in one way or another.
If I say I am going to complete or get to a certain point on a project by 3pm, ex: start at 9am and stop 3pm it is more realistic. I know that during that time period I have set for myself I can easily divide my time between the kids, work and anything else that may happen to drop in my lap. Then the older kids will be coming home and I can deal with homework, other household chores, dinner, family time and getting the kids in the shower and into bed. Sometimes I get a wild hair and do some work at night, it just depends if anything is good on TV.
Tomorrow comes and it starts all over again, just not the same schedule. I may have more time to do work because I don't have to do the same exact housework as I did yesterday. If I have a heavy cleaning day, I try to squeeze in as much as possible so that it doesn't need to be done on the next day and eventually it kind of evens itself out. I also make sure that I have time off for myself out of the home even if it means taking the twins with me. Pack 'em up and head to grannies house for coffee and a game or two. So basically being a work at home parent is the mother of all multitasking, if you're a work at home parent with small children hanging onto your legs- you know exactly what I am talking about. And when you are working from home you just have to make it work even if it doesn't go as planned. The kids won't wait for you to come to a stopping point on your work- your work will have to wait for your kids.
Jamie Edson Opielski
Copyright ©2006
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