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Working at home

Planning and self-discipline

The keys to working from home when you have a young child are planning and self-discipline. As you progress you’ll find out whether you prefer a very rigid structure of work where your children and home life don’t interfere.

Alternatively, you might be happy with a mixture of work and play activity throughout the day. You may find that some level of childcare assistance is still necessary, as looking after a young child is a full-time job in itself.

Juggling all your tasks

• When discussing job tasks with your employer or clients, make sure you set realistic goals for delivery of work.
• Try not to be too much of a perfectionist. It’s probably not going to be possible to work from home, care for your child and have a perfectly tidy house.
• Make sure that your partner takes an equal share of cooking, cleaning and other work around the house.
• Take up on offers of help from friends and family.
• Develop a network with other local parents so you can swap and share childcare, as well as provide trustworthy babysitting services for each other.
• Get used to working at the times your child likes to sleep.
• Be firm with family and friends, and don’t let them pop round or call you on the phone for too long. You’re technically at work.
• Consider getting a separate business phone and answering machine service to draw the distinction between the two parts of your life.
• To avoid feelings of isolation, arrange lunch with colleagues or take part in parent groups.
• When you’re at home you can start to feel like you’re constantly on tap to either work or children, so take out some time out for yourself.