Episode 43: 3 Tips for Working from Home with Your Kids

Full Episode Transcription:

(00:07):
Welcome, welcome back to the “Ditch the Classroom” podcast. Super excited today, because I’m gonna be sharing with you my top tips for working from home with your little ones. This was something that I really struggled with in the beginning. And I know so many of you do as well, trying to balance motherhood and just everything else that is expected of you, and now throwing a business on top of that. So I wanna give you some tips to help, help you manage everything. Before we really dive in, I do wanna invite you if you’ve been wondering if virtual assistance and freelancing is the right fit for you, I have a free workshop that is going to teach you all about what a freelancer is, what services they can offer, the top three mistakes new freelancers make and where to find paying clients. So if you’re just wanting to kind of get your feet wet and see if this is the right fit  go-to, my free workshop.

(01:52):
Your next step. If you’ve kind of already got an understanding of what you would like to offer, but you’re not ready to take the full leap yet. And you’re still just kind of wanting to figure things out. My Ditch the Classroom Toolkit is for you. This is my mini-course that’s going to teach you the very basics of running your freelance business and give you those foundational skills that you need. Now, if you’re ready to go all-in, ditch the classroom for good, be freelancer or virtual assistant full-time and be home with your babies all day every day, then the Teacher Turned Freelancer Academy is for you. This program has 10 modules with videos, workbooks, ongoing support, private community, everything you need to be successful and completely replace your teaching income. So if that’s for you, I would absolutely love to have you in. You can find the links to all three of these options in the show notes. So make sure to go check that out.

(02:58):
All right. So when I first started working from home, I had a newborn. And so that was kind of not too bad because you know, she napped a lot. So I was able to work on my business while she was napping, but now I’ve got a two year old. So things are a little bit more chaotic and I really have to try my best to balance her needs along with my business and not let one or the other take too much of the priority. Obviously, my daughter is my number one priority, but I do have things I need to get done in my business so that we can save money and take our family trips and I can do things with her. So it is important to juggle both. And so I’m gonna share with you my three tips for how I’m able to do that.

(03:49):
Number one is to try to create some sort of a routine. Now, this isn’t something you’re gonna stick to because we kind of all know toddlers are crazy and we’re not always going to be able to stick to the same exact schedule every single day, but you wanna kind of have a general flow for how things work. So, what’s worked for me in my business is we’ll get up in the morning. I’ll do my morning routine while she kind of drinks a bottle and just plays quietly. And then when it’s time for me to dive into some work, I’ll put on a show for her, give her some snacks and I’ll sit down and get my work going. Now I’ve gotten pretty good about if she is coming over and playing with me while I’m working, I can kind of balance the two as long as she’s not being too wild, but I found if I can give her something to distract her, then I’m able to be a little consistent and get stuff done.

(04:46):
So like I said, we do the morning routine in the morning, and then she plays for a little bit. While I get some work done, we’ll usually take a break. We’ll eat lunch, I’ll play with her together for a little while and then give her another little show or a toy that she doesn’t usually get to play with to keep her distracted. While I get some more work done. Then I’ll take a break, get her down for nap. While she’s napping, I get more work done. Then when she wakes up, we usually take time to play. And oftentimes I’m done working in my business. Now, if you are still working as a teacher or in whatever job you have, you may just have a couple hours a day that you’re trying to work and spend time with your kids. So maybe you can make a plan with your spouse or partner, whoever helps you with the kiddos, maybe one night, a week, they can be completely in charge of the kids while you sit and work on your business.

(05:51):
We did that at the beginning of my freelancing journey. My husband would watch my daughter the whole evening on Tuesday nights, and that would give me like a good solid five hours straight of being able to focus on my business. So that’s another option for you as well. My second tip is to set a timer. So my daughter’s a little bit older now, and she’s getting a little more able to do this. You can’t really do with super little ones, but if I set a timer, I can let her know, “Hey baby, once this timer goes off, mommy’s gonna be able to take a break and play with you.” So that way she knows that there’s an end to me working and that I’ll be able to play with her. So that has been really helpful with her.

(06:35):
Tip number three is to work in bursts. So again, beauty of freelancing and virtual assistance is that you do not have to get it all done. You don’t have to sit down at your computer and get it all done at once. You can work in short bursts. So I can work for 20 minutes, play with my daughter for 15. Work for another half an hour, play with my daughter. Work again, play again. You don’t have to be super, super structured. You can work when it’s convenient and when your kids are gonna let you. So that’s another tip that I have for you. You don’t all always have to sit down and bust it all out at once. You can work kind of more in increments.

(07:24):
So let me summarize again for you. Number one is to create a routine, again, not super set in stone, but to just give your kids a little bit of a understanding of “this is how the day’s gonna go, and I know I’m gonna get played with, and these things are gonna happen around this time.” Tip number two is to set a timer so that your kiddos know that once the timer goes off, you’re gonna be able to play with them or move on to the next activity. And tip number three is to work in verse. So work a little bit, work a little bit play. I hope that this was helpful for you. I know it can be a little bit overwhelming, especially when you first start working from home to try to juggle both your business and your kiddos. So I just wanted to give you some things that have been working for me. If you have any tips to share, I would love to hear them. Feel free to message me on Instagram @arianna.vernier, and I will make sure to let everybody else know your awesome tips. And I just thank you guys so much for listening to this show each week, you have no idea how much it means to me. And if this show is impacting you in some way, I would absolutely love if you could take a moment to post review and just share the love because every review helps me reach more mamas and teachers like you. I love y’all so so much, and I will see you next week.