kids home for the summer

How many of us work from home and have children living at home?

This is the time of year I need to really get organized. I love my children and never want them to think BWS is more important than my family.

If you work from home, how do you balance everything?

I have worked from home for many many years now. My boys were quite young when I started and I also worked for the SPCA and a Vet with many animals that needed a foster home. I don't know if what I did was right or not but I managed to give all of them a piece of my time to call their own. You just do it and pray its enough for everyone including yourself....

Dotsie, I wonder how women like you do it all. You mothers amaze me! I work from home, I don't have kids, Yet I still find it difficult to do my work. It's so funny. This morning I went to a woman's house because she wanted a book and a Drop for TEARS (you can see my website for what that means, under products. If Meredith sees it, she might laugh because it's such a simple pendant.) Anyway, this woman wanted to talk and talk. While she was very nice, and while I wanted to talk, I still needed to get away to work on my BC memoir. But I was at her house for 2 hours. When I got home, I allotted two hours for writing. I turned the phone off, turned the computer on, got settled, got one sentence, and the doorbell rang. I'm also easily distracted by chores. It becomes ridiculous trying to work from home and I don't have kids! I am not complaining because in fact I have it easy. I'm just saying that working from home is sometimes not perceived as working, and with kids it's even harder to determine your time managment methods AND balance with what your children need. Much luck to you this summer! Love and Light, Lynn

Lynn, I've seen it and I didn't laugh at all, because it's made from your heart to support the incredibly important Project for Tears.

If everyone made jewelry like mine, I'd be out of a job.

Lynn, I've seen it because you were kind enough to send me one. How could anyone laugh at something that holds so much meaning?

I hear ya on the distractions. Our home is like Grand Central Station. I guess it's because I was a stay at home mom before creating BWS. Kids and thier parents come and go. I'm forever jumping up and down. That's why I chersih long periods of uninterrupted time.

Flexibility is key for women working from home. We can't set our expectations too high because then we walk around feeling disappointed when we can't get everything accomplished.

We also need to set limits with the kids. We have to let them know there are certain times we are unavailable. I'm working on it.

Anyone else have any other suggestions?

Thanks Dotsie and Meredith, that means a lot to me! Really, really! I can't imagine what it's like to write from home when you have children to tend to. One of the things that kept me from working on my first book was my need to do housework. I was a slave to housework because I thought it made me valuable as a wife. There was a day off that I had set aside to work on my 1st book. I was in the shower, stooping, cleaning grout with a toothbrush. In the shower, I had a break-through: what am I doing with my time? Why? This was not a mere stalling technique, this was self-sabatoge. When I realized that I was serving no one by scrubbing grout as compared to women I may serve by writing the book, I stopped, well, not suddenly, but gradually. I had this conversation with another woman writer who is retired from her day job and says her husband does not understand her need for long periods alone to write. I'd say that he is not respecting her retirement work, and he needs to be trained to just let her be. However, children need attention immediately, so I have no idea how you mothers do it all. I salute you! Love and Light, Lynn