Balancing Blogging and Mothering

I squinted to make sense of scattered letters through the glare on my screen.  Focused attempts at deciphering HTML became distracted by bursts of giggling from the other side of my window.  Rejoicing from finally making a text box that scrolled, I missed a small excited voice asking me to “look at me”.  Dripping hair and sopping wet footsteps ran inside to beckon me to join their mini water park complete with a blow up monkey pool.  Promising just five more minutes I shooed away wet fingers from my computer.  Next I looked up and the time for sprinklers, popsicles, and water slides … Continue reading

The Life of a Working Single Mother

The life of a single mother is packed. Her mornings are spent running around like mad trying to get all the kids ready for school, packing lunches, pouring cereal, gathering things for work, making sure the kids got their homework done, then rushing to get them to the bus on time, and if she’s lucky she may even get out the door in time for work. She spends the day slaving away at her job, then comes home to make dinner, help the kids with homework, do the dishes, get the kids bathed and ready for bed, stories, and finally … Continue reading

Balancing Your Time

Childless couples face some different problems than couples with kids, but some of our issues are the same. One problem that I think any married couple has is spending time with one another. The specifics of the problem, however, vary whether or not children are in the equation. It’s well-known that finding time, period, when you have kids is a common conundrum. Finding time to do household chores, take a shower, spend time with your spouse, and still have some alone time can all be troublesome depending how many and what age children you have. Obviously Jon and I don’t … Continue reading

Is Working from Home Right for You?

How do you know if working from home is right for you? It’s important to know this before you take the plunge. First, consider if something you do as a hobby could be turned into a home business. There are so many ways this can be done. Maybe you can make a killer cheesecake. Or you know how to design some really cool jewelry. It could be that you are great at organizing. Virtually anything we enjoy as a hobby could potentially be turned into a business. Think outside the box. This may be the first step in deciding if … Continue reading

Working Part-Time Offers the Best of Both Worlds

It’s an age-old argument, whether it’s better to be a working mom or a stay-at-home mom. While we may never come to a final agreement, there is another type of mother in the mix that often gets left out of the conflict…it’s the part-time working mother. I read an article from “Medline Plus” that mentioned new research finding that mothers who work part-time do a better job at balancing their careers and nurturing their children. Specifically this study found that mothers who work part-time were more involved in their children’s school, more sensitive with their preschool children and provide more … Continue reading

Potential Problems of a Home-Based Business

As we are nearing the end of 2011, you might be thinking about ways to increase your home-based business or start one up. While there are many, many positive reasons to work from home, there are also potential problems that have to be realized. You may end up using this blog as a defense weapon as well, the next time someone tells you how “easy” you have it being able to work at home. No matter what your business is (inside or outside the home), there are always good and bad parts to it. One of the biggest problems you … Continue reading

Working from Home Doesn’t Mean I Have It Easy

Someone recently posted on their Facebook status that they had come to the conclusion women who have never held a full-time job while raising children have no clue what its like. Apparently something had rubbed her the wrong way. But quite honestly, I know that feeling of being rubbed the wrong way when it comes to my working at home and raising children. I could say the same thing, “Women who have never had to work at home while raising children have no clue what its like.” Working at home is a blessing, don’t get me wrong. But I continue … Continue reading

Your Home Business Is Part of Your Family

Like it or not, when you decide to run a home business it is not just about you. It becomes a part of your family. Part of the reason is that you can’t separate it from your family as much as you can a job that you go to outside of the home. It is there in front of everyone. It is accessible. It may even affect your family, good and bad. So you have to be very careful that your home business never becomes a replacement for time spent with family or in any way becomes more important than … Continue reading

Balancing Work and Family

As a single parent being a stay at home mom just isn’t an option for most of us. You have to have a way to provide for your children, because let’s face it, child support just doesn’t cover everything. Supporting children on your own can be overwhelming. Having to work means having to find quality child care for your children, which can be pricey. Many young mothers find themselves trapped because all of the money they make goes straight to daycare. It’s a vicious cycle that is hard to get out of without a strong support system to help you. … Continue reading

Nap Time Tips for Home-Based Professional Parents

home-based professionals who are stay-at-home parents, our work and our parenting are very much interconnected. One common area of concern for work-at-home parents is nap time. Some parents are blessed with excellent nappers who get down to business quickly and easily at the appointed time each day and nap for a couple of hours. Other parents have children whose nap schedule is less predictable. My son is generally pretty good about napping and usually takes a nap during a fairly predictable window of time. There are some days that he does not nap at all, though, and I have been … Continue reading