How do you survive summer with kids and also get work done? Here are some tips to help find balance during the summer for work at home moms and dads. Good advice for work from home parents.
Tips to find balance when working at home with kids.
Working from home in the summer with kids is not the easiest thing to do! I have survived working from home with kids for over 16 years and I hope you enjoy my advice and tips for trying to find some life balance while the kids are home this summer.
We’ve been staying up late, making forts with sheets and swimming. No fancy vacations this year, just visiting family and learning to tie shoes. A BIG accomplishment around here!
I try to have as much fun as possible during the summers, but I run several businesses and also have to make time to work. There are so many things that have to get done each day. Working from home as a stay at home parent is the hardest job around. Trying to get things accomplished in summer can be nearly impossible.
Originally published June 24, 2011
How do you get any work done with kids home all summer?
When summer starts to become a very busy one for me. I try to take moments throughout the day for special times with both of my children. Whether it is making a bubbly drink or playing a game of chess that I have no idea how to play, I hope they remember that I wasn’t always in front of a computer or on the phone for work. I hope they remember that mom was home with them and doing her best to be a good parent.
4 Tips for Finding Balance This Summer with Kids
My kids are only going to a few weeks of camp this summer, the rest of the time they are home. With no family nearby to help with babysitting, here are a few tips from what I’m doing to find some balance.
1. Have certain hours or days that you work. Let your clients, co-workers and your kids know these hours.
Make sure your kids understand these are times you will be working and have activities planned for them such as crafting, drawing, play dough, building forts, cleaning their rooms or reading. I’ve found that inviting friends over doesn’t help and makes it harder to get work done.
2. Take several hours a day to be totally offline and just play with the kids.
I personally have to get out of the house, or I’m too tempted to check email or Facebook! We have a mason jar full of fun activities or places to visit that we wrote down on small pieces of paper. I love our Good Kid Reward Jars! The kids can draw one activity a day from the jar if they’ve been good while Mommy works.
3. Do less.
It’s okay to say no. This might be the season that you just can’t put anything else on your plate. It will be alright! I’ve found when I say no to one good thing, something even better usually comes around the corner. I have also not been blogging as much as you might have noticed. Or maybe not? Either way, I’m doing less to make more time for my kiddos.
I often worry that if I take time off from my blog and social media that things will come crashing down. Well, after 9 years of blogging with two websites, that hasn’t happened yet. So If you are concerned about that, don’t be. I promise, it will still be waiting for you when you get back!
I know it’s hard to take off from social media, especially if it’s the main way you promote your business. A great way to be able to take off more time is to automate, automate, automate!!! Check out this list of social media tools and auto schedulers that I use so I’m able to take off during the day and still keep my social channels going.
Update: I wrote this article when my kids were ages 4 and 8. I’m so happy I took more time off during the days back then to enjoy play time. They are now 11 and 15! I can’t stress how important it is to make time during the day to enjoy your kids while they are little. If you are trying to grow your business, then work at night when they are sleeping. Believe me, in a few years, it will be worth loosing sleep.
Now that my kids are so big, I want to hug them all day and keep them from growing more! Don’t miss out on the times when they want to cuddle, make forts with sheets and let you read them a book. I miss that so much!
4. Take time out for you.
I just went on a trip to Sonoma with my college girlfriends and it was such a wonderful time! I feel that I’m a much happier person when I take time out for myself. Even if it’s just reading a book or relaxing in the bathtub, carve out a few hours a week this summer for yourself.
A happy mom, makes everyone happier!
Do you work from home? How are you finding balance this summer?
Visit my Kids Craft Section for some fun ideas to keep your kids entertained!
Check out these awesome projects for kids!
Yes this is so true. I am at home working for the first time and the change in my three children from 4 yrs to 12 yrs is amazing. They are more calmer and happier and I am loving it.
Love this Amy! Thank you 🙂
A happy mom, makes everyone happier – absolutely true. An unhappy mom will not be able to make good decisions when it comes to scheduling. A lot of moms tend to overlook this, yet I think this is the most important.
RT @livinglocurto: 4 Tips to Finding Balance This Summer http://t.co/gHLT1b7
RT @livinglocurto: 4 Tips to Finding Balance This Summer http://t.co/QxeWyWP
Thanks for posting. It is great to know that other “mompreneurs” are also in the same boat. Another good tip is to try to wake up really early and start working while they are still in bed, it seems to work for me.
Happy Summer! Disfruten el verano!
Loved your ideas, Amy. This is the first summer that I am working from home, so I found these tips extremely helpful!
@Julia @ Hooked on Houses,
Yes, it’s more like survival sometimes:-) Have a great summer!
As a fellow work-from-home mom, I can really relate to this and appreciate the helpful ideas! Summer is always a bit of a challenge for me, even though I love it.
Love this post! Give yourself dedicated times to work and play! Awesome!
Love your tips! We shared our schedule recently as well http://fortheboys.squarespace.com/home/2011/6/2/our-summer-weekday-schedule.html
@heidi leonard,
I love that idea of playtime so moms can have some free time.
4 Tips to Finding Balance This Summer: We’ve been staying up late, making forts with sheets… http://goo.gl/fb/1RSci
thanks for sharing this. This is my first summer to be busy with work life & the kid life-it has always been the kid life 🙂 It is very difficult balancing the two. We do lots of crafts & try to get out most mornings until lunch time with swimming, play dates, the park-whatnot and then the afternoon they have quiet time & I have work time. They get to play quitly while the youngest naps & the oldes gets to read, play his games, legos, watch a movie…etc. So far so good. Some days we do flip flop though if we have something to do in the afternoon.
yes, having dedicated ‘work hours’ are a must. sharing planning sessions with kids on how we’ll spend our time together helps them to know that they’ll get they’re ‘special time’ too.
i’m trying to coordinate a child care trade with some other mama’s in our neighborhood a few mornings a week too so that kids and play together AND mama’s get some extra time alone to do whatever. 🙂
*super cute pics!
happy summer to you!
heidi @
wonderwomanwannabe.com
&
operationorganization-mn.com
Amy, I feel the same way! Trying to find balance is so hard. I have a hard time doing less and even harder time doing things for myself. On my list…facial and a trip to La Jolla, CA.
You might like a post I did on our recent: Summer Day
http://backcountrybelle.blogspot.com/2011/06/on-summer-day.html
Yeah for mobile access that’s easy to read! Woot!
Good stuff. Some days seem to work better than others. My kids are older so while they’re more independent they still want to be taken here and there on the spur of the moment. I’ll probably get the summer schedule down pat by the time school starts back! ; )
great ideas Amy!