The obvious benefit of being a work at home parent is of course the freedom and flexibility to be more involved in the lives of your children. Things like looking into the long lashed eyes of your infant as you rock her to sleep for a mid morning nap, chaperoning a field trip to the zoo with your first grader, or cheering your middle school swim team star on at an afternoon meet. Maybe as a work at home dad, you can help your wife out with picking the kids up at school or help her keep the after-school snack shelf stocked by doing a little grocery shopping.

However, the flip side of this lifestyle is that you could be returning a phone call with a crying and teething one year old clawing up your pant leg or maybe your toddler just found the little blinking on/off button on your computer….

Time management might be the issue. You now have the freedom to help your kids get ready for school and whip up a blueberry pancake breakfast, but because you were up all night trying to meet a deadline, you accidentally brushed your teeth with diaper cream and were forced to send your kids out the door gnawing on burnt toast. Now that you’ve made the transition to a work at home parent, how do you balance the two?

I talked to five successful work at home parents and asked them their top tips for balancing work and family. Here’s what they had to offer:

- Tiffiney is a wife and mother of two elementary schoolers. She works part time for a granite and stone company, Custom Tops. She is in sales and makes appointments from home and then goes on sales calls as well as assists in the project management of the installation process. These are her tips for finding balance.
1) Make a list each and every day, and put it in a planner the night before.
2) Have a set day of the week that is laundry day like Monday. “I do every bit of my laundry in one day… yes, it is running non-stop all day, but it works for me. I also try to make work calls on that day between loads.”
3) Have set days for making outside appointments and try and schedule them when the kids are at school.
4) Have a supportive family. “I have a great support system, which is my wonderful husband who keeps me in check. He tells me when I am in over my head, which is most of the time. I have a tendency to try to do everything, but he makes me give some things up, because he sees how it affects all of us.”

- Laurie is a wife and mother of a toddler and a preschooler. She owns her own e-bay selling assistant company;
1) “Take at least one weekend day at home to relax… you are busy enough every other day. Make yourself take a day off.”
2) “Plan your errands, know what you need to do while you are out and do them in order so that you can be efficient with your time.”
3) “Take at least 15- 20 minutes out of your day to snuggle, talk, or play WITH your kids. After all, THEY are the reason you stayed home to work!”

- Jim is a building construction project manager and a work at home dad. He is a husband and is a father to two elementary school aged children. His top pieces of sound advice to other work at home dads are:

1) Stay flexible. Try and set time periods when you can give your children the time and attention they need while you are both at home. Be willing to put up front time limits on work and play time.
2) “Be willing to take your office with you and set your work space up in the kitchen or in an upstairs room. This is really pretty easy with a wireless laptop.”
3) Take advantage of the early morning and late night quiet hours.
4) “Take a trial run at being a work at home dad before making the leap, just to make sure it is right for you.”

- Brent and Johnna are a Work at Home Couple! They are both retired from the dental industry and both work from home as Arbonne Reps. They are the parents to two school aged children and a toddler. BOTH Brent and Johnna have earned their Arbonne Mercedes Cars!
Johnna Miller Brent Miller DDS
Independent Consultant,NVP Independent Consultant, RVP
Arbonne International Arbonne International
johnna.miller@comcast.net

Brent and Johnna took one of the biggest steps towards balancing work and home
in that they both retired (early) from their careers in the dental industry in order to
give the home side of the equation more time. Their tips to balancing
work and home other than both making the choice to work from home are:

1) Stay highly organized
2) “Set your office hours at least a week in advance and then stick to them. If you are working until 3 don’t stop at a quarter to 3.”
3) “Let your children know your office hours for the week. If they are home during your set office hours, make sure they understand you are working from home so you can put them first but there will be times when you have to be in your home office.”

-Here’s two more bonus tips from yours truly.
1) Get your sleep. A grumpy mom or dad makes for a grumpy family.
2) Also, to deter your toddler, put a little piece of duct tape over the blinking on/off button on your computer. 

In the end, all our work at home parents agreed that the choice to work from home had it’s unique challenges, but that the benefits of getting more “squeezy” neck hugs from their kids was well worth it.

© 2007 Kathy Kline Danner
Kathy is a freelance writer and WAHM. She is a wife to her Nissan Man, mother of two elementary schoolers, and caregiver to one tick attracting dog and two overfed goldfish. She is also the creator of www.PBandJAHM.com a free e-zine for moms.