Creative Child Care For Work At Home Mothers
I am not yet a Mummy (but hope to be one soon!) but I know having my own kids is a must in my life. Actually that is the main reason I want to start my own home business as I want to be a hands on Mummy. But thinking realistically, I feel it is impossible to be a 24/7 hands on Mummy when you are also running a home based business. Once in a while, there comes a time or two when you have to get some help, whether you like it or not.
With that in mind, I thought of a few creative child care solutions for work at home mothers to consider when and if the need arises. These are also very useful time management tips to help work at home mothers balance their precious time. Here they are:
- Get your hubby/spouse to help!
If you are a work from home mom running a wedding planning business or freelance interior designing and you have to meet clients to discuss over the details, you can schedule the appointment later in the evenings when your husband/spouse is back from work. Get his help to watch over the kids for a couple of hours. Better yet, send the hubby and kids to the movies for a bonding session while you meet clients for work at an adjacent coffeehouse.
Let your husband and child have a bonding session while you attend meetings
- Get to know other work at home mothers in your neighbourhood and build a rapport with them. Then, suggest forming a child care network. Each work at home mum can spare a certain amount of time a week (say 1pm to 3pm on a Monday for work at home mum 1) in her schedule to babysit other work at home mothers’ kids. If you have to meet a supplier, then schedule it on Monday, 1pm and drop off your kids to the work at home mum 1’s home while you go off dealing with work. Anyone who needs a babysitter on that particular day can drop their kids off at work at home mum 1’s home as well.
- If your home based business does not require you to leave your home, you can hire a local high school student to come over and play with your kids while you work in your home office. This creative child care option allows you some quiet time to make important phone calls or send out urgent emails to customers, suppliers and the like. If anything unfortunate happens, you are just ten feet away and your kids will not dare to cause a racket knowing that you are just in the next room.
- Enrol your kids in art classes, ballet classes, bible study and so on! This gives you the flexibility to run work errands and meet clients/suppliers while your kids are learning new skills and making new friends. You can check your local library, community center or place of worship for free or low costing classes. In the end, you can get important work done and your kids will learn a new trade at the same time.
I guess the only thing to remember no matter which child care solution you choose is to always run a background check on the people whom you are handing your kids to. Make sure they are trustworthy and will not harm your kids in any way. Ask around for recommendations from your close and trusted friends. Also, look around the surroundings and make sure the place feels safe. If you have any bad feelings towards a particular sitter, then trust your instincts!
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