Separating Work From Children

Work-at-home parents have a big job juggling two worlds.

Baby bottles and white out. Pacifiers and paper clips. Blackberries and baby monitors. Annual reports and easy readers.

The work-at-home, stay-at-home parent is living in two worlds simultaneously. Juggling tasks for vastly different roles, the work-at-home parent is the queen of the multi-taskers.

It's easy to get overwhelmed. Trying to be professional while at the same time being a good parent is a constant crossroads - you're routinely asked to choose between spending time on work and spending time with your kids.

If you work from home, you've probably already come up with a system to keep all your irons in the fire and tended to. You probably already use your children's naps and quiet times to get as much work done as possible. And you most likely appreciate the value of staying on schedule and being the happy slave to a routine, so that when you lay your head down at the end of a long, stressful day, you can say you did it all and you did it well.

Childproofing your office is essential to keeping your children and your work safe. It takes time to put your work away instead of leaving it out, but it's worth it to know it's kept away from little hands.

As a work-at-home parent, don't let Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day pass you by. Plan some activities to help your children learn and appreciate what you do for a living. They may see you work every day, but still not know exactly what your job entails.