Parenting Tips: How to be a work at home mom

"I can't get any writing done because the kids are in my face!"

"I can't surf the net for my cash programs because the kids always want to play a computer game."

"How do I run these transcription projects downtown with three kids in tow?"

These are the dilemmas an increasing number of parents face who work from home. The cost of childcare is prohibitive, especially for more than one child. With more children diagnosed with disorders such as autism and ADHD, parents want to be at home with their special needs children after school.

The Internet is bursting with home based business opportunities and freelance or outsourced work. It seems like a dream: regaining some of the income lost when one parent goes to work but still being able to have a stay at home parent for the kids.

For some parents, however, it seems like a nightmare after a few weeks. Children need attention but the work at home parent needs a few hours each day to work.

Here are some tips, arranged by age group.

Infants and Toddlers

* Take advantage of their earlier bedtimes to get some busy work done in the evenings.

* If your work involves the computer, you CAN learn to type with a toddler on your lap. Keep wandering hands busy with a toy, bottle or sippy cup.

* Children age 2 and up can spend short bursts of time playing near your workspace.

* Keep a few small toys or board books in a desk drawer and use them only for times when you are working so they seem like a novelty

* Join or start a cooperative playgroup in your neighborhood with at least six children where two mothers take all of the children once or twice per week for an hour or hour and a half on a rotating schedule.

Preschoolers, age 3-5

* Clear off a corner of your workspace for your preschooler to color in coloring books or draw pictures on plain paper. Many preschoolers love the idea of "working" along with a parent at their desk.

* Keep a drawer or box near your workspace with books, paper, crayons, colored pencils, clay, or other creative materials

* Keep dry cereal, juice boxes, individual sized packages of graham cracker snacks, goldfish crackers, canned fruit cups, and other nutritious snacks handy so your children can help themselves to their morning and afternoon snack

* Add variety to the day by allowing short videos or TV breaks, and try to place your workspace near a window where you can watch your child play outside in the yard while you work.

School Age 6 and up.

* After school or on weekends have your preteen sit near your workspace and do homework while you work. If you are doing "busy work" where you can work and converse at the same time, use the time to catch up on your child's day.

* If you need a block of uninterrupted time, set up an informal coop arrangement with other neighborhood parents to host playdates or video film festival afternoons on days off from school and reclaim some of the days formerly filled with wails of "I'm bored."

* Set up a housework/special time coop arrangement with your older children. If they complete certain household chores for you, thus freeing up more time for your work, you will spend "special time" with them on a certain activity of their choice: riding bicycles or inline skating, going out for ice cream or sharing an order of french fries, seeing a movie, or anything else they choose for which you are willing to treat them.

With some ingeniuity on your part, and cooperation on your children's part, working at home can work for the whole family.

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Vacation tips for mom

Have you ever dreamed of taking a vacation just for yourself? No kids, no husband, no dog? Then you thought of all the reasons you couldn’t, such as money, children or time away from your job? Well throw that kind of thinking right out the door. You can take a vacation just for yourself. You can afford to and you deserve to have some time away.

Two years ago I decided it was time for me to take a personal vacation. I, like most mothers, work forty hours a week at a job, I care for my children, keep a clean house and keep everyone well fed and reasonably happy. So, where in all that would I find time for me? I learned that in order to find time for me I had to make time for me. I needed a vacation and I needed one with out my family. Any mother knows that a family vacation is a vacation for the children and the husband, you as a mother still end up working. Granted it’s not at your workplace but it’s still work. You still have to care for the children, you still have to cook, to do dishes and keep everyone happy. It ends up your more tired from vacation that you would have been had you worked at your job all week. You need to go back to work to rest.

Do I feel selfish, guilty for thinking this way? You bet but, I didn’t let that deter me. I deserve my time. I began planning my vacation after calling a few close friends and telling them my idea. They all excitedly told me that if I could find something cheap enough they would be more than happy to join me.

My first step was to call the local travel agents in my area. Bad idea! They gave me some wonderful vacation packages but all had huge price tags attached. I wanted a small vacation and didn’t want to have to sell my first born to afford it.

Second step, I began looking through the telephone book and calling resorts and hotels in the area I planned on vacationing at. What I found was informative as well as reasonable.

1. If you plan a vacation in off season (non-peak times) the rates are reduced by nearly half the original cost for a suite/room/cabin.

2. Most resorts/hotels have rooms that sleep up to six people, have small kitchenettes and two baths for one flat price. Split this price with several friends and the savings are incredible. What normally you couldn’t afford you now find you can easily afford.

My plan was to arrange a four day mini-vacation for under three hundred dollars. I searched the area I was interested in going to. I had certain criteria that had to be met. I wanted to spend only three hundred dollars for the entire long weekend. I wanted a resort with an indoor swimming pool, a sauna and a gym. I wanted a location not more that five hours drive from where I lived. I wanted an area with plenty of attractions. After several phone calls I decided on a beautiful resort located near the White Mountains in New Hampshire. I chose the small town of North Conway. The town offered many attractions such as outlet malls, quaint little shops; hiking, biking and walking trails all nestled at the base of the beautiful snowcapped White Mountain Range. I chose off peak time, early spring and got the best rates for lodging. The resort my friends and I stayed at offered all the amenities, swimming pool, sauna, gym and several shops and restaurants on the premise. The entire weekend cost me under my set goal of three hundred dollars and that included some shopping and all meals. We, my friends and I, had such a great time that each year in the spring they now look forward to our annual mini-vacation. This year I think we’ll try the coast. I hear it’s beautiful in the spring.

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