Working Mom's Tip #2: Block it out

When working from home, it can often be difficult to balance your time spent working and time spent with the kids.  There were times when poor Darius spent more time playing with himself and watching Thomas the Train videos than he did with his momma.  I'd be frustrated.  He'd feel neglected.  And we would be at each other's throats before lunch.

As we battled it out one day, I thought to myself, "This whole working from home thing is not worth it."  I was ready to throw in the towel and put him into daycare on our once-special day.  And I was so sad.  So guilty. 

And I made a decision to change it.  If I was going to work from home, dammit, it was going to be balanced.  No more back to back calls.  No more checking email every other minute to see if someone responded.  No more picking up the cell every time it rings.  I was claiming my working-from-home day to be balanced day with my son.  And I derived a plan that I have stuck to for nearly a year.

I schedule time with my son on my work calendar.  I block it out.  And if someone tries to schedule a meeting at that time, I decline and tell them I am in another meeting.  It's that simple. 

While Darius naps, I work so intensely that I can get over a half-days worth of work crammed into 2 hours.  Sometimes I can manage to steal a 20-30 minute siesta myself when Darius sleeps a little longer.  When he wakes, I put the laptop away until for another hour so that we can take a walk, play outside, or put a puzzle together. 

I found that the more 1:1 time that I provided with Darius, the more time he was willing to play without me.  Darius and I had balance too.  He didn't need me every waking moment.  He knew that there was times when Momma worked.  Times when Momma needed quiet to take a phone call. And times that Momma would be his and his alone.