Family Ground Rules for Working from Home: Easier Said Than Done?
"Mommy, can I…."
"Mom, where's my…"
"Mom, he called me…"
My kids are at school yet I can still hear these refrains echoing in my head. Some days it seems like I am called upon for a million different reasons, all of which could be handled without my help. These are the days when we review our work-at-home ground rules.
Every work-at-home family needs a set of ground rules, but each family's rules differ depending on the age of the children, mom's line of work, the amount of child care and everyone's patience levels. But the key to making rules work, whatever they are, is communication and consistency.
When expectations are clearly spelled out and rules are enforced, eventually you get less resistance. But the important qualifier there is "eventually."
When I enforce the rules consistently, we're all happier, though the kids would never admit it. But when I make too many exceptions, the fact that there even are rules is conveniently forgotten. And that trip back to reality is always a disappointment.
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Comments
Working at home seems so easy but if you will not manage your time wisely, you will have loads of things to do that will pile up both with your work and with your family.
How true! When I worked from home I hung a sign on my office door so my kids knew when they could and couldn’t come in. It worked well, and I only used it when really necessary.
I agree – communication is important. If I need to put a significant amount of time in without being disturbed, I let my husband know and retreat to my “office” – which is really our bedroom and my laptop! It works well and feels like I am in college again, because that’s what I did then too.
I love working at home and to deal with family around I write when no-one is at home and do social contact, blogging etc when people are in the house. If I need to, I close the door which tells them I don’t want interruptions.
I don’t have littlies though, if I did I would organise a sitter for a couple of hours a day, maybe a teenager after school to play with the kids while I did some work.