Who wouldn’t think being able to make an income while also staying home to raise your children wasn’t the perfect situation? While you work on your computer, your well-behaved toddler happily entertains himself at your feet. Or you can be closing that big deal over the phone with a client while also icing your child’s birthday cupcakes. Those are some of the idyllic situations everyone seems to picture when they first consider working from home. It’s perfect. You can have it all without any fuss, right?
Well, not so fast. The reality that work-at-home moms often face can very different. A child’s schedule isn’t predictable. You might be constantly interrupted from your work at the computer, turning a 5 to 10 minute task in an office setting into an hour-long ordeal. And your precious toddler might decide to throw an ear-splitting tantrum a few minutes into that important call with your most important client.
But despite the pitfalls, more and more women are finding ways to successfully work from home. How do they balance their job and their role as mother when it all happens under the same roof? What are the pitfalls? And how to you overcome them?
Some moms hire baby sitters or nannies to mind the children while she works. This keeps the kids out of her hair and occupied at something non-dangerous. The downside is that nannies cost an arm and a leg. This can reduce mom?s earnings. Some moms have older children who watch the younger ones, but power struggles and tears can be frequent interruptions. ?Mommy, Sissy says I have to play outside, but I want to be inside.? The inevitable results tears, cries and runny noses are the result.
Children?s pets present another pitfall of working from home and being a mother. Moms who earn income from on-line auctions must rely on freight services to pick up at the house. Delivery vans are notorious for making dogs go bananas. Some work-at-home moms report the mere sound of that familiar brown van coming down the street causes their dog to bark at 105 decibels; loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss. She can?t get rid of the dog, it?s the children?s pet.
One way to find some uninterrupted work time is to work at night when the children are all tucked into their beds. Some moms find jobs that give them the flexibility to do this such as bookkeeping or taking customer service calls at night. This is not a cure all, however. You need to take care of yourself and get the sleep your body needs. Otherwise, you’ll be facing the next day cranky and drowsy. If you do decide to work at night, don’t forget that afternoon naps can be just as refreshing for adults as it is for your kids.
Depending on the job performed, there are other pitfalls of working from home and being a mother. Pay can be low: sometimes work-at-home moms are not paid for their work. Sometimes employers find ways of rejecting the work claiming poor quality. Benefits such as health coverage and pension plans are scarce. But the work-at-home mom knows that those children she has raised can be counted on to take her in and car for her in her elder years.
In addition to the interruptions, the low pay, and lack of benefits, perhaps the toughest pitfall facing work-at-home moms is the lack of adult contact. No longer will you be able to pop into your coworker’s office and chat about the latest television show or to seek help on a task you’ve undertaken. Your children will be more interested in the bug they found outside, or the video they want to watch for the hundredth time, or to give you big hugs with their candy-coated sticky fingers than in your work. Well, I suppose that’s a pitfall most moms would gladly accept.