Let’s face it, running a business from home while looking after the kids is an ongoing juggling act.
I’m fortunate enough to have my own home-based business, which I work in part-time. It is a catalogue shopping company specialising in products that are safer for families and the environment. I don’t take any orders, make any deliveries or do any billings. I simply set up my customers’ accounts, and whenever they purchase product it is couriered direct to their doorstep, and I receive a commission. Sounds bliss doesn’t it?
My name is Dean and I live in Christchurch. I’ve got the privilege of being the main carer of our two sons – Rhys, who is coming up 5, and Jesse, who is about to turn 2. I’ve been in this role since February. I’d love to team up with some other Dads who might be looking for work from home, or to share more about the products with anyone interested in getting the toxic chemicals out of their home. Before you put your hand up to join me in this enviable lifestyle, I’d like to issue some words of warning. Read on.
Julie, my wife, is out the door at 7.30 am, leaving me in charge for the next 9 hours.
My primary role is to look after the kids, so they come first, without question.
However, there are times during business hours when I need to make a few phone calls or respond to emails and I have to head into the office. I usually do this for 20-30 minutes in the afternoons while Jesse is asleep. Thankfully Rhys loves the Magic School Bus DVDs, and each episode runs for about 25 minutes, so that usually works out quite well.
Then of course there is dinner to prepare. Our boys like to eat before 5.30 pm, and we’ve always made a point of eating together. I usually try to get dinner ready or at least under way, before Mum gets home from work, which is normally about 4.45 pm. Again I try to do this while Jesse is asleep. I’ll either involve Rhys in the preparation of the meal, or have him sit at the dining room table doing an activity while I do this. I bought a slow cooker a few months ago and it is a god-send if I can get organised enough early in the day (I used to think a slow cooker was the reserve of grandparents making soup, but I now know how versatile they are).
Throw in the usual household chores of washing, vacuuming, grocery shopping, dishes, getting lunches ready etc etc (hey, you know the story), and you’ve already got a tight schedule. Oh yeah, did I mention that the kids come first and that means spending quality time with them, doing what they want to do at their pace, having fun, rough and tumble, reading books, getting messy – all those things that under 5s love to do.
I’d be interested in hearing about from other Dads working from home and how they manage to wear two hats.
-Dean
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Juggling can be fun. It's a
Juggling can be fun. It's a lot of work sometimes though, and like in so many other spheres, a professional is someone who makes a hard job look easy.
My wife and I both work part-time, so it's definitely a bit easier than trying to be a part-time worker and full-time parent. We've been doing this for the past 16 years though, and I wouldn't have it any other way. After a full day at work, I look forward to a day of parenting, and vice-versa.
My youngest stopped napping a while back, but I can generally sneak in furtive business calls when he's otherwise engaged in quiet activities. And if he wants part of the phone action, I just explain to my colleague or client that it's just my young assistant wanting to help out. It's a good thing people are still generally charmed by kids. As Gordon Brown is supposed to have said recently, "Although children are only 25% of the population, they are 100% of our hope for the future."
There are many times when either parenting or work needs more attention than the other, and this problem can usually be addressed by an occasional run of late nights. Hopefully it's the work pushing into the wee hours, and not the family matters! They take priority for the daytime.
Having routines and being organised does help a lot, but attitude is even more important. Everything does not always work out the way we'd like it to, but hey - that's life - and at the end of the day, we need to focus our attentions where they'll have the greatest long-term impact.
I was reading through some SKIP material the other day, and it said that our job as parents is to be "memory makers". That really struck a chord for me, and helps prioritise many issues.
And when all else fails, lower your minimum standards :-)
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