Nov 28 2008
So You Want To Work From Home, Do You?
When I tell people that I work from home there is usually the response of, “Oh, that’s great, I wish I could work from home,” as though what I do is something magical. While it is pretty cool to know that I can bring in a viable income but still decide to take my kids to the zoo on any given afternoon, what people probably don’t realize is what it takes to work from home.
The other night my kids went off to a movie with Daddy. I had some deadlines looming so I stayed home to work while they went out. On the way down the stairs my four year old sighs, “Another movie without Mommy.” Then my son starts crying and saying that he wants to stay home with me. I’m faced with the constant dilemma: Take advantage of an opportunity to catch up on some work, or spend some extra time with the family and catch up later?
It’s a constant frustration. When you have an office to go to, your work probably doesn’t get interrupted regularly because someone asks you to stop what you’re doing and go to a movie. Or clean up spilled juice. Or fold the laundry.
The truth is that my work usually comes last in the priorities of my family. I squeeze work in when I can, but sometimes that has me staying up until really late at night because my family just doesn’t like it when I whip out my laptop and try to work. Unless I leave the house and go work somewhere else, I’m fair game for making lunch or taking the kids to a doctor appointment or cleaning up the house.
Do I love working from home? Yes, indeed. Is it a ridiculous balance act sometimes? Heck yeah. Before you get visions in your head of me contentedly typing while my kids play quietly alongside me, realize that the more likely scenario is me typing away furiously to try to meet a deadline while also making dinner and dancing with my kids to YMCA (true story).
Working from home as a writer with young kids in the house isn’t something that’s magical and easy. It’s a constant balancing act. Would I rather head out to an office to work? Not really, but sometimes - just sometimes - I would like to get some work done during normal business hours and not stay up all hours of the night unless I’m whooping it up.
