How will you work with a child! Did you ever give it a thought before having one?
Work and kids, probably not the best combination. Still, life is incomplete without both!
Right from the beginning, with a toddler around you, 24×7 to look after, staying in the game is a big decision.
If you are the one jumping or jumped back to work after giving birth to an infant, I inspire your commitment.
Either you are a 9-5 day worker or a freelancer, childcare is the challenge that comes with no ‘quit’ option.
From maternity period to motherhood, every mother prepares herself physically and mentally for all the responsibilities to come. There is no specific time to nurse a baby. Kids require attention all the time.
They wake up in the different mood every day. Keeping up to that, feeding them, playing with them, nourishing and whatnot requires full attention of the parent.
Being a parent is tough, but being a freelancing parent is formidable!
Pursuing a freelance career can be challenging in itself, but freelancing with children makes it even more complicated.
Cheers to the superwoman routine that you have maintained so far. Even if you are managing it well for now, you will need help at some point in time. The help to stay focused and be more productive.
How To Make It Work?
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Check out the following tips that can help you work from home with the baby and make your life a little easy.
#1 – Dedicated Workspace
Is your child giving you a hard time? Story of every parent on this earth!
The young ones are the angelic devils who possess the superpowers to turn your home upside down if they’re left out of sight.
These adorable distractions kill your productivity no matter how long you keep up with the work to cover up.
Hence, you need a dedicated workspace to lock yourself while working and concentrate for a few hours every day.
Work is real. So is deadline!
Dedicating a proper space for work can also help you stay focused and deliver work timely.
By doing so, you increase your efficiency and you get to spend more quality with your family without worrying about the work.
You would agree that even your kitchen could work as your new workplace since you cannot stick your babies to just one place.
#2 – Time Blocking
With children to take care of, you don’t realize how time flies.
Hence, time blocking should be your priority.
They say multitasking is a productivity killer. Use time blocking instead.
Time blocking helps you prioritize tasks and associate them with your short-term and long-term goals. Every task should be assigned a limited time and you should intend to complete the very task in the specified timeframe only without failing.
When running a home-based business, be sure to define your focus.
This productivity technique will help you stick to the schedule and let others know what to expect when. It is a great practice to streamline daily routine when freelancing with children.
Learn to concentrate on one, and then on the other. Don’t forget to block time for intervals.
Here is a printable to do list that will help you stay organized while working from home!
#3 – Flexibility
Since you are a freelancer, you have the benefit of making your own work schedule. You can adjust it as you want!
Stay flexible!
You don’t need to work 9 to 5 while working from home. It is strongly suggested that you work around the schedule you have set for your child or the schedule they make you go round and round about.
Being a new mum isn’t an easy job.
All you need is to be prepared to work strange hours too if need be!
There will be times that will overlap your home life with work life. But you need to keep them completely different as it can be tiresome.
In addition, be sure to give yourself some quiet time every day to relax and introspect. Delectable pasta and a glass of wine can accompany!
#4 – Nap Time
Set a nap schedule for your baby.
Word of caution: Don’t nap when your little one is napping.
Try to take advantage of this nap time of your little one. Dedicate these hours to the tasks that require undivided attention.
Your efficiency is definitely to improve if you keep utilizing this golden period of the day.
#5 – Babysitter
Nursing babies with a freelancing career is a real tough job.
A helping hand in daily tiresome routine could be a big relief to the parent(s).
How about hiring a babysitter? Yes, a babysitter!
Writing, attending phone calls, maintaining documents and all other work stuff simultaneously going on with babycare will lead you nowhere with your productivity. Both will suffer from your incomplete attention! And trust me, you don’t want that to happen.
Yes, the child needs all your supervision but wouldn’t it be great if you seek a helping hand for the hours that you solely dedicate to your work.
Babysitters come to rescue in the lives of every working parent in this century.
You can hire a professional babysitter or ask for friend/relative to take care of the baby for hours that you schedule to work.
It will help you get your mind off the baby and concentrate on the work.
6 – Networking
It is important to network with other parents around you.
Start with your own parents!
Even if you are always busy writing PR, rocking baby, attending phone calls and feeding baby, you can still stay connected with people around you.
Maintaining relationships with other pairs will help you learn tactics of good parenting. You can ask for babycare favors too if need be.
Talking about professional life, you can stay connected with peers too. A simple email, phone call or even text message would suffice.
Isolating yourself for the sake for nursing your kid is not healthy for a family to sustain.
7 – Backup
What can be a better backup than the Father himself?
Yes, the dad is the best backup plan.
If you are the mother reading this, discuss it with your partner to be available whenever required as back-up support.
You people can work around the individual schedules to divide the tasks and time for looking after the child.
Do work on the best case scenarios and worst case scenarios to be well prepared for what comes next. You see, children are UNPREDICTABLE!
Some quick pro tips for the mothers:
- Handsfree for your phone – Easy way to make/take calls
- Be open about maternity – To clients, vendors, etc.
- Maintain to-do or follow-up list – For everyday tasks
Dear Parents, You Got This Handled!
You know your work is important but so is your kiddo sitting right there beside you.
Every parent is forever ready to drop everything to nurse the little one whenever required. You being a parent should never be busy for your dear baby.
As far as your work is considered, you need to learn to maintain the balance between the work and the childcare. These tips to balance work and kids are sure to help you juggle between freelancing and raising the kid with utmost ease.
Simply focus on enjoying the time as much as you can.
If you are the one working from home and taking care of kid too, hop in and share your experience. Also, let us know what other tips you have.
Happy freelancing & happy parenting to you! Goodluck!
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