This summer is my first summer that I have projects and deadlines as a virtual assistant and my kids are home from summer. What does any entrepreneur do when she works at home and school’s out?
1. Get up Early
With my kids being older, I can easily get up by 6 AM and have 4 hours to get work done. However with younger children, you’ll have to learn to get up with stealth like a ninja so they don’t hear you.
2. Stay up Late
Apparently people do stay up past 10 PM but don’t call my house then. Kidding aside, staying up to work when your kids go to bed is an option for night birds.
3. Work in your office
Up until a month ago, I had commandeered a tiny corner of the den, also known as the man cave and worked in the corner for a year or so. As of today, I have an office that is freshly painted and moved in my desk and printer today. The room can have traffic at times but I know it’s for a short 3 month season and am so thankful for it. Make sure your kids know that when you’re working, you’re working and let them know when you can be disturbed.
4. Check in with each of your kids
When you have deadlines, it’s easy to push aside your relationships. You may think you have all summer to hang out with your kids but you don’t. I try to take time with each kidlet and see how they’re doing. It may be when I’m doing chores with them, driving them over to a friend’s house, or just snuggling with them on their bed. It’s good to ask them how they feel about you working. Listen to their thoughts about how they feel and acknowledge their words. You may have to adjust your schedule or tweak a portion of your day but you’ll be glad that you did.
5. Go out
Grab some time at your local library or coffee shop to work. If you have younger children, find another trusted mom to swap babysitting so you both can get work done and help each other out.
6. Hire a babysitter
Hire a high schooler to hang out with your kids. Since high schoolers are out for the summer, there aren’t many jobs that they can get until they’re 18 years old so if you find a great babysitter, you’ve found gold! Pay them well and make sure you provide loads of pizza, too.
7. Make a To Do list
One thing I’ve found that a To Do list stops procrastination and takes care of any low level anxiety of what to do next. A list allows you to see what you can do next so you’re more productive with your time.
Summer is a fun time for you and your family and you don’t have to dread that school’s out.
Do you have any tips to share on how you work with kids home?
Great tips Jan. My grandkids were here over the weekend and I had to tell them that Nana’s “office” is off limits while I’m working working. They didn’t get it at first, but after a couple reminders they were fine. They would stand at the door and ask, “Are you still working?”, and then run play for another few minutes.
Hi Diana,
You’re comment made me giggle. I don’t have grandkids yet so that would be really hard to work when they’re home. But it sounds like they got it since you “stuck to your guns.”
I wanted to say in my post, that I tell my kids because they’re so much older, that I tell them to only disturb me “if there is blood…otherwise, work it out”…but I thought I’d sound too mean. 😉