Child Care Options for Moms Working at Home

Can you imagine trying to conduct a teleconference with that potential client while your toddler throws a tantrum in the background? How about proudly pulling out a professional proposal at a meeting only to discover a crayoned masterpiece on the back? Most work at home moms have been there.

Although the flexibility to spend more time with your young children is one of the major motivations for most mothers to make their career at home, expecting to work full time while supervising a family is not fair to you or your children. If you have preschoolers, someone is going to have to care for them at some point during the week so you can get your work accomplished… but who? And, just as important, where?

If you are a mom working at home, you probably became one so you could make more money and spend more time with your children. However, there will be times in your business and your life when you will need to arrange for childcare. We have gathered up some creative solutions for your child care dilemmas.

If you are working at home online, there are huge benefits for your family. Online based work can be done at any time of the day or night. You can set your own work hours to fit around your child's needs. While your child is napping, you can squeeze in an hour or two of work every day without organizing any child care at all.

It is highly recommended that you set up a work schedule for yourself and do your best to stick with it. When you work for yourself, and are not accountable to an office, manager, or boss, it can be easy to "slack off". Resist this temptation and stick to your work schedule as best as you can.

Another thing to consider with work on the internet is the time zone differences. Many online businesses may be based in other countries and other time zones. This allows for even greater flexibility for busy mothers with young children. It is possible to save your work until the children are in bed. Or perhaps you can set up an arrangement with your spouse for him to help out more around the house while you build up your online business.

Mothers who work at home in direct sales are very often faced with childcare predicaments. A large portion of their business is conducting sales presentations, usually held at someone else’s home. If you are a party plan WAHM, the most obvious choice would be to schedule these presentations when your partner can watch the children, but what if your partner has an odd work schedule or you are a single parent?

One suggestion is to hire a local high school student to come to the party with you and be the “party nanny”. Check with the hostess first, but she will probably love the idea (and so will the other guests – since they won’t have to worry about getting a sitter for their own children, they will be more likely to come to the party and the more guests you have, the bigger your profits!).

Direct sales is a common profession for mothers with children. The sense of community can be quite strong in solid companies like Tupperware, Creative Memories, Party Lite, Mary Kay, etc. Professional women will have excellent advice for new consultants regarding work/family balance. Be sure to speak to your team leader for additional support and ideas.

The first main thing that any work at home mom should do for a good childcare support effort is to seek her partner’s help. Mothers, who are freelancers, direct sales people, online employees, wedding planners, virtual assistants, or basically any kind of job at home - can ask their husbands to help them with childcare and household duties in their free time.

This way, the child is not neglected and neither is the place of work. Children enjoy this special one on one time with Dad. And fathers also feel the full weight of the parent's responsibility when mom is not around.It can help to have set tasks for Dad to accomplish during the evenings or weekends. Perhaps he could be responsible for cleaning up after dinner, making lunches for the next day, reading and homework with older children, and getting all kids into bed on time. By relieving yourself of these evening responsibilites, you are free to concentrate on  your work for several hours every evening.

If you just need an occasional sitter, try setting up a “child care group” with your friends or neighbors. Each person can designate a time on a certain day of the week or month to be “the sitter”. Any of the Moms in your “child care group” who need a sitter that day can drop their kids of at the “designated sitter’s” house. The children will get to play and interact with one another and each Mom can get free childcare on an “as needed basis”.

Another option is to set up a full-day kid swap on a set day every week. This has worked very well for many working women. You agree to watch a friend's children for an entire day each week, and she will watch yours for an entire day. This option gives your kids a fun day out with friends, and it gives you focused time to work - guaranteed - every week. Not to mention that it is completely free!

The benefits of this type of solution are enormous for both the parents and the children. Say your day is Wednesday. You know that you shouldn't schedule any work related events on Wednesdays. Instead you can plan to have an outing with all the kids, or stay home to do a special craft. The kids love knowing their friends will be coming over, and its always fun to spend the day at someone else's house.

Check with your place of worship as they may offer a “Mom’s Day Out” type of program where you can drop your children off for a few hours per day, a couple times per week. This may be a free or low-cost service.

The park districts in many areas offer high quality, low cost programs that are great fun for kids. Be sure to check with your local park district and see what options are available to you.

Also, check with local library as they may have “story hours” where you can bring your children and the librarians will read the children a book and after the book is read, the children can participate in a craft, game or activity. All the while, you are there with them and you can work on your laptop or smartphone. Kids are happy and you can accomplish some much needed tasks.

Mothers working from home can also enroll their children in an activity class like a dance class, craft class or ballet class. This has a two-fold benefit; not only will they be able to work peacefully while waiting for the class to finish, but will also let their child learn a new activity during that time when they work.

Do you need to find childcare for only a few mornings a week, or so you want your child to have more personal care than can be provided in a group daycare setting? Sharing a nanny between several children can help make childcare more affordable for parents and provides children with regular playmates. Here's some tips on how to set up a nanny share for yourself.

What is a Nanny Share?

A nanny share is where a nanny is hired to care for more than one child at a time. This reduces the cost to the parents while still providing quality child care in a home setting. The nanny can care for one child every day of the week or several other children on only one or two days each week.

By sharing one nanny's services among several families, quality childcare becomes more affordable. Even if a nanny charges more to care for multiple children the hourly rate usually works out to be less when sharing than if you hired a nanny to care for a single child in your home. Children will also benefit from regular playtime with one or two other kids in a nanny share.

How to Find a Nanny Share

The best place to find a trusted nanny caring for children in your neighborhood is to ask your friends, neighbors and the other moms at playgroup or library story time. Word of mouth and personal recommendation are a great place to start your nanny share search. If nobody you know is looking to share a nanny, try searching online on your local Craigslist or parenting message board.

Once you've found some other parents who want to share a nanny and a good nanny who is interested in caring fora few children at once, take some time to meet the nanny and let your child play in the space and with the other children who will be there at the same time. Watch and see how your child interacts with the nanny and other children.

This can be an excellent solution for mothers who work at home.

If you just need some “quiet time” to do some work, you can hire a neighborhood teenager to come over and play with your children while you work away in your office. You will have some uninterrupted “work time”, but you will still be there in case ‘something comes up’. If you have regular meetings that take you away from the house, check with friends and family to see if they can help out by watching the kids. Offer your product or service in exchange for their time. They may jump on the offer!

And don’t feel guilty if you need to put your children in daycare part-time. Yes, you may have had every intention of working at home in order to spend time with your children, but, there may be times when your business will need your total focus. By taking that time and completing your business tasks, you will be able to focus 100% on your children during family time.