Working at Home with Kids - Real Moms Share their Best Tips

How to Work at Home with Kids: 10 Best Tips to Save Your Sanity (From Real Moms!)

Working at home already has its challenges and rewards. Add trying to work at home with kids to the mix, and those challenges multiply. It’s hard, but it can be done! I’ve gathered real work-from-home moms to share our 10 best tips to show you how.

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Are you working from home with your children, or thinking about it? Are you wondering if it’s even possible or assuming only the moms who can afford nannies and full-time daycare are able to be self-employed and work from home? While hiring a nanny, sitter or enrolling your kids in daycare makes it much easier, it’s also much more costly.

Does it seem there’s no way you can do this as a single mom blogger? Spoiler alert: I’m a single mom blogger with a 6 year old son at home and I’m doing it. I know you can too!

In fact, there are many mom bloggers and business builders who work at home with kids. Probably more than you think! Some of us do it by choice, some were forced to give it a try and still others started out as homeschoolers and decided to add blogging to the mix.

Before I became a mom, I worked at home for myself. After I had my son, I struggled a lot. There were a myriad of reasons my pre-baby business was failing, and becoming a single mother by choice added more stress. Sadly, I wasn’t able to save my business and was heartbroken for years. I felt a lot of shame and failure over it.

So I got a full-time job, enrolled my son in daycare and did the regular 9-5 life for a year and change. At first, it felt great to have the steady paychecks and a routine that didn’t depend entirely on my own creation.

10 Best Tips for Working at Home with Kids

Do You Feel Called to Be Your Own Boss?

Within months of starting my full-time job (the first I’d had in 13 years!), my inner voice – the one that’s always telling me to be my own boss – started getting louder. After the struggles and heartbreak I suffered, I didn’t expect to ever hear that voice again. I didn’t expect to feel pulled back towards self-employment.

But that voice refuses to be ignored! She knows what she wants!

Do you have the same calling? Have you been hearing that voice too? Do you feel miserable working for someone else? Or is it just the 9-5 lifestyle and being away from your children that brings you down?

Either way, working at home with your kids can be a solution. It is possible.

How to Start Working from Home

You can get a remote, work from home job. Have a look at FlexJobs to get some great ideas and start applying right away.

If you have a passion you’d enjoy teaching about, you can earn good money and make your own schedule as a teacher on Outschool. It’s a great side hustle for moms, and does not require any teaching experience.

Or follow my lead and start a blog and build your own business. There’s nothing like being your own boss, having complete control of your schedule and answering to no one. Nothing else works for me. I know I’m not the only one who feels that way!

Consider also your relationship with your children. Things were extremely hard with my son for at least six months before and after his third birthday. There was a lot of yelling and crying, and it felt like one more area of my life where I was a huge failure.

We’re not all born with innate parenting smarts, and your own upbringing may have taught you the wrong lessons. My mom friends recommended all sorts of positive parenting books and a well-loved local teacher, but I just couldn’t find time for any of that as a single mom.

What worked for me was the free course by Positive Parenting Solutions that taught me how to get my son to listen in a more loving way, and stopped most of the yelling (it’s always a work in progress). I recommend checking out the free course now so you go into working at home with kids with all the right tools.

If you’re ready, you need to get creative, plan ahead and be flexible to successfully work at home with kids around. It takes focus, planning and lots of creativity to successfully work at home with kids around.

Meet the Work at Home Moms

These 10 best tips I’ve gathered from 4 real work-at-home moms, plus yours truly, will give you some great ideas for how to make that work for you. Even as a single mom blogger, we can do this!

Christen Grozelle with her four girls

Charlie Alexander and her two littles

Mariclare Cranston and her son

Tiffany with her husband and three children

Christen Grozelle is the mother of 4 young girls, ages 1 through 9 years old. She runs her blog, Best Money Mom, from home and she’s also a Canadian elementary school teacher. She’s a former journalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and also worked as a television reporter for CTV News.

The New Year motivated me to take control of my finances. I decided to learn all I can about stocks, bonds, index funds, dividends, and all the other terms I used to nod my head at and pretend to understand.

I’ve done my research, spoken to experts and followed all the advice myself. At Best Money Mom I don’t write about anything I haven’t done with my own money. I want to help others who may be in a similar situation.

Charlie Alexander has two children and blogs at Paper Scissors Craft. She has a real passion for crafts and adventure, and loves sharing that with her kids. Paper Scissors Craft is a blog for moms to find ideas of easy, quick, and cheap kids crafts and activities.

I find a lot of joy in showing and teaching my kids new crafts and activities, or cooking with them in the kitchen. I love to help them find their creativity, see their eyes light up when they’ve discovered something new, and bond with them over something we all enjoy.

10 Secrets to Working at Home with Kids
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Mariclare Cranston is a single mom of one, and a content marketing specialist at MCCreative. A lover of words and a self-proclaimed “word nerd”, Mariclare loves the power of language and helping small business owners harness that power.

I have partnered with businesses in the financial services industry, food service industry, service industry, and retail. The organizations that I’ve supported have been as large as over $1B in assets and as small as a desk in a living room.

I fuel my passion with continuous education because, let’s face it, what worked with content marketing last year has changed in some way this year. And as a business owner myself, I know you need results. 

Tiffany is the mom of three little ones and a former math teacher. She homeschools and blogs with her husband at Saving Talents.

After starting a couponing blog several years ago, we realized quickly that saving money is more than just using coupons and making budgets.  It’s an entire lifestyle where you try to be a wise steward of your money. The more we studied the parable of the wise steward, the more we wanted to share these everlasting gospel truths and principles with others.

And me, Heather Cottrell, single mom of one. In 2005 I began my first business at home as a health coach, then a business coach and web designer for wellness pros. I also have a background in art, film, television, and marketing.

Read My Story.

Heather Cottrell and son working at home

I’ve been working for myself from home for a long time. It’s not easy. Among other things, it takes focus, planning and a big why. This is true of self employment, whether you have kids or not. Having the added distraction – I mean joy – of children around just gives it one more challenge to overcome as you make a living working at home.

It can be done, and I created Single Mom Bloggers to show you how! The following advice from five mom bosses will show you how to successfully work at home with kids.

10 Best Tips to Successfully Work at Home with Kids Around

1. Designate a Specific Work Area

It’s important to have a specific space just to get your work done. Whether it’s a laptop on the kitchen table, an office with a closed door or a desk set up in the living room, the work from home mom needs to have her space. Having a designated place to work helps you focus and switch your brain from “mom time” to “work time”.

Further, it sends that same signal to your children. I sometimes get caught up doing social media work while sitting on the couch with my phone. Or I’ll start reading a great post while we’re sitting out on the deck.

These are the times my son will ask me a million questions or point out every bird in every tree. These are the times I most often have to shush him and say “not now, honey”.

Set up a designated work space to successfully work at home with kids

In my last apartment, I had a home office. I miss it sometimes, but for me it makes more sense to work from my desk in the living room, so my son and I are together. He’d follow me into an office all day anyway, this way there’s more space for him to play and still be close to me.

When I sit down at my desk and work on my computer, he knows it’s my work time. He knows it’s time for him to play quietly by himself and to do his best not to disturb me. Find a space that works for you and use it consistently when it’s time for you to focus.

Tiffany uses a treadmill shelf attachment so she can blog while she walks on the treadmill! Brilliant!

I have a couple of special TV shows, games, and toys the kids are only allowed to use while I exercise. This also motivates them to motivate me to stay fit!

2. Have Realistic Expectations When you Work at Home with Kids

When you’re working at home with kids, it’s important to manage expectations – both yours and your children’s. Talk to them.

Christen recommends you have realistic expectations about what you can accomplish in a day.

With all 4 of my girls home during school closures, I am lucky if I have an hour or two to work. My baby daughter takes 2 naps per day and that is when I work. So, I try to only accomplish what is realistic to do in that time frame. Otherwise I end up frustrated.

Because my work time is so precious, I make it clear to my girls that I need them to be fairly self sufficient. They now know that “Mom needs to not be interrupted for an hour” and that’s when I let them watch their electronics.

Like most of us, Mariclare had to adjust to having her son home when schools closed.

If you don’t usually work from home, be aware of your own expectations. Juggling parenting and work is a balancing act – and that eats up some of your time. Recognize that when you’re setting your own expectations.

10 Best Tips for Working at Home with Kids

With your own expectations handled, talk to your kids. Let them know how the day will go. I tell my son how long I’m going to be working on my blog for each period, when I’ll take a break and what kind of break it will be.

We do quick breaks, lunch breaks, long breaks, go outside breaks, play a game breaks and hug breaks. He can have a quick hug break almost as often as he requests. He announces “it’s hug time” while I pretend to check the schedule to confirm. 🤗

I also let him know what time I will finish for the day. This depends on the day. If we have somewhere to go, errands to run or a playdate scheduled, I finish up by about 2pm. Otherwise, I generally work until dinner time, with lots of breaks throughout the day.

Read Gifts for Work at Home Mom Bloggers: The Ultimate Guide

3. Stick to a Routine and Leave Room for Flexibility

All the moms agreed that you need to start with a schedule and clear priorities in order to successfully blog and work at home with kids. If you just head into each day winging it, you’ll get very little done and feel frustrated (been there!). Or you’ll spend too much time on busy work without a clear focus, taking up more hours than necessary and your kids will be frustrated (been there too!).

Start by getting clear on what you need to get done for your blogging business and learn how to stay focused.

My Free Weekly Checklist Can Help

Tiffany plans out her entire week in 15 minute increments.

I write in the priorities first – appointments, activities, etc. Then put in the items of medium importance. Lastly, I fill in with low priority items I want to get done.

Charlie keeps those top priorities to a maximum of 3-4 items.

I first make a list of all the things I would like to get done. This is always an unrealistic list. I always think I have more time, and I never do. I know this, so I also create a list of the priority items. What items absolutely need to get done.

I try to keep this to a maximum of 4 items. If I do more, I get overwhelmed, and start to feel guilty about what I haven’t gotten done. Then, I time block my time. I take those 3-4 items and I figure out how they will best fit into my day.

I like to make a list of my top priorities the night before. These could be write a post, prepare a broadcast to my list, create and schedule a new batch of pins, or work on a new freebie.

We start the day together having breakfast and then I do a little work before it’s time for homeschool. When he has an online class, I stay close by and read or do social media work from my phone while he uses my computer.

After school, we take a short break together and then it’s work time. Depending on the day, I work on my blogging business until around 2pm with a few breaks. And then we go out and do other things. Often I work the entire day until dinner, and sometimes again after he goes to bed. I plan more long breaks together on those days.

10 Helpful Tips for Working at Home with Kids from Real Moms
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4. Know What Works Best for You

Your kids will always come first, and you’ll want to plan your days with them in mind. But when you’re blogging and working from home with kids, you need to be thinking about how to balance your work needs along with theirs.

Charlie knows she’s more productive in the morning and works with that.

I wake up before the kids, or allow an hour of TV time in the mornings so I can get something done. I block time for my kids, meals, and my priority to-do items. This way, when I need to work on something, I don’t feel bad telling my kids I need to work. They know that I need my time to work, but that they will also get mom time later.

I have to create a plan, or I get too stressed. But I also leave room for flexibility. If I get more items on my list crossed off, then it’s a bonus.

I’m more productive in the mornings too, but I’m also a night owl, so I don’t wake up early. That’s a lot of lost opportunity (something I’m working on changing). Still, I always try to start the day with writing because that requires the most concentration.

I also know that although I can write on my phone or tablet, it’s very inefficient for me. My brain is wired to produce my best work when my fingers are typing on a real keyboard. I also prefer using my computer for creating graphics with Canva.

It doesn’t work for me, but you can blog from your phone with free apps like WordPress and Canva. These and lots of other apps can be super helpful when you work at home with kids.

I rarely use my iPad, but my phone works well for social media sharing, approving blog comments, pinning and checking stats. It’s also great for reading and viewing videos for the courses I’m enrolled in. And reading the latest from my favorite bloggers.

Knowing that, I schedule which blogging tasks I can manage during the time I have at my desk, and which to save for when I have to work on my phone.

5. Schedule in Things Your Children Like to Do

The way it works best for Tiffany is to work around her children, rather than make her children work around her work.

First, I plan out my children’s activities, such as coloring or riding bikes, and then write a to-do list of my work items.

I sort my to-do list by time. Each item is sorted into segments of 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes. This way I capitalize on every spare moment instead of wasting time wondering what I could do.

I also like to keep an ideas list to the side of 1 and 3 minute ideas. These include things like responding to emails, update a Pinterest board description, etc. that I can do while waiting at the drive-thru or even in the bathroom.

Mariclare sets a schedule for her son with a small dry erase board where she writes the day’s school assignments and expectations. She says “this helps keep my son on track and allows me to stay focused on work. He loves checking things off the list!”

She also uses timers to help keep them both on task.

Things like free play, screen time, reading time, etc., are all timed. My son knows when the timer goes off it is on to the next activity or assignment. Sometimes, I even set one for myself, particularly at the end of the day. It helps me to stop myself from working when I should be switching into mom mode.

I’ll plan ahead which days we’re going out for a hike or to see friends. We often meet with friends from the local homeschool club on Mondays to play outdoors. He looks forward to those outings, and knows they’re not happening every day. I remind him throughout the week which days we’re doing what.

It helps to use visuals as well to schedule their day. You can simply use a dry erase board or get a fun kid-friendly calendar.

6. Put Electronics and Screen Time to Good Use

I worry about excess screen time as much as the next mom. I also know that there will be times when screens are going to be your best friend when you work at home with kids. Used mindfully, electronics are a huge help for work at home moms.

I let my son watch PBS Kids on TV every morning. Most often, I use the time to catch up on sleep. You can use it to get some work done. Late in the afternoon, after my son completes “book time” he gets to have “iPad time” when he plays with educational apps.

After dinner, we watch PBS Kids together – Wild Kratts is a favorite right now – or choose a nature show on Roku. Once in awhile, we do movie night complete with popcorn and Disney+.

Thankfully, there are plenty of fun and educational apps your kids will love to watch and play on a phone or tablet. I rarely let him watch shows on the iPad because I like to know what he’s seeing (and YouTube is banned) so I filled it with great educational games he enjoys.

Girl learning on phone while mom works at home with kids

Start with the PBS Kids Games app. There are so many games in there, all associated with PBS characters from Daniel Tiger and Pinkalicious to Odd Squad and the Kratt Brothers. And it’s all free!

Some PBS characters have their own separate educational apps too including The Cat in the Hat Invents and Elmo Loves ABCs.

Other educational and homeschooling apps we use are Teach Your Monster to Read, Starfall and Montessori Preschool. Simple free apps for learning letters, shapes and animals, are Smart ABC, Smart Shapes and Smart Baby Touch. Another one of my son’s faves is Drawing for Kids by Bini Bambini.

To take it further into homeschooling you might want to check out ABCMouse and ReadingEggs for a more curriculum-based experience. Another source of great courses, both live and recorded, is Outschool.

You’re going to want to invest in headphones for the kids, or for yourself, to help keep your sanity intact while you work at home with kids playing on their devices.

Use screentime in short scheduled blocks so you can work quietly, or as a reward for completing other assigned tasks. It’s going to essential when you need to talk on the phone or have a Zoom call. Balanced with outside time, hands-on activities, and time with you, screen time can be a fine addition to the day.

7. Get Your Kids Involved in Your Work Wherever You Can

While my son doesn’t yet understand what “blogging” means, I do my best to explain to him what my work is about. Treating him almost like a partner in my blogging business makes him feel included and respected. I remind him often of the many benefits of having me work at home rather than going out to an office and not seeing him all day.

It helps to talk through your decisions, pros and cons, and how it could be different if you didn’t work at home, in a way that makes sense to them.

I invite him to help me with the blog too! He loves to assist me in choosing the stock photos I use for featured images and helping me with pin designs.

Read Easy Pinterest Basics for Mom Bloggers

Get your kids involved when you work at home with kids

How can you involve your children in your blogging business? These will differ depending on your blog’s niche and your kid’s ages, but they can:

  • choose stock photos for featured images
  • help with pin designs
  • assist with cooking and recipe tasting
  • set up and break down photo and video shoots
  • assist with your social media engagement
  • pick spots to take pictures while traveling
  • give opinions when reviewing toys
  • help you choose an outfit for video or photos
  • find the ingredients at the market for your next recipe
  • get their hands dirty planting and weeding in the garden
  • be your assistant for home DIY and crafts
Use activity centers when you work at home with kids

8. Prepare Self-Guided Activity Centers for Your Children

You need to get creative and stock up on supplies when you work at home with kids. Homeschoolers have a lot of great ideas for this!

Set your children up for quiet fun they can do by themselves. You can use a daily written schedule, visual calendar or timers to indicate when the kids will switch from one activity to another. My son is fairly independent, as long as he’s physically close to where I am so we tend more towards a loose routine that follows meal times.

Of course, these suggestions will vary a lot depending on your children’s ages and interests. Here’s some ideas to try:

  • play-doh activity sets and assorted tools
  • bucket of water and toys
  • a big box of small animal figures of varying sizes
  • cars and tracks
  • a box full of kinetic sand and little construction vehicles
  • simple crafts with safety scissors and a glue stick
  • bubbles
  • sensory bins
  • color sorting and shape sorting toys
  • color-by-number sheets
  • activity books from the dollar store
  • giant box of Crayola crayons
  • color wonder mess free
  • scavenger hunt sheets
  • word search books
  • puzzles of all shapes and sizes
  • legos – duplo for the littles and classic for the bigger kids

My son was thrilled to help me put this list together, which include faves from when he was little and a few he likes to play with every day.

9. Get the Kids Outside Whenever Possible

Christen makes sure her kids get some exercise every day.

Since I let my 3 older girls watch electronics while I work, and the baby naps, it is important that they get lots of exercise and fresh air during the rest of the day.

We normally go hiking or ride bikes for an hour or more each day. Then we play outside after I’m done working. This way they are happy and ready for a rest when I’m on the computer.

I prefer working from my iMac on my desk in the living room. It works well when my son plays inside or on the deck just off the living room. To allow him to plays outside in the yard, I need to do things differently. It’s shared space in an apartment complex, so he’s not safe out there alone at his age.

I don’t have a laptop at the moment, so I plan activities I can do on my phone while I can sit on the deck where I can see him. My preference is to use this time for learning, so I’ll log into a course to read, watch videos and take notes. I can text and comment on Facebook from my phone, but real writing that takes concentration, requires the tactile experience only a keyboard can provide.

Children playing outside while working at home with kids

That said, I only allow him to play out in the yard in the afternoon. I do my best work in the morning, so that’s when I write at my desk. About an hour or so after lunch, he can play outside while I work from the deck on my phone or tablet.

If you need to be outside when your kids are, plan ahead what activities you can do while you’re close enough to keep them safe.

10. Reach Out to Other Moms Who Work at Home with Kids

You’re not the only mom who’s trying to work at home with kids in your neighborhood. You may not know her, because she’s super busy, just like you. But she’s out there and when you find her you may find some great ways to support each other.

Look on Facebook for local groups of self-employed moms and you may find some who would swap childcare with you, or can at least recommend a great sitter or mother’s helper you can employ even just two half days a week for some uninterrupted work time.

We don’t have to do everything ourselves, and it’s perfectly OK to ask for help and use your community or village, to support you.

It can be hard to be home alone with your children all day, especially when they’re going through a particularly defiant age (things got really crazy around my son’s third birthday here!) or if you’re dealing with siblings quarreling all day.

I strongly recommend taking time for yourself as much as you can while they nap, after bedtime and when you can get childcare help from friends or family. Use some of that time to learn new tools that will help you as a mom.

Read Real Life Self Care Strategies for Working Single Moms

Amy McCready of Positive Parenting Solutions offers a great free class that will help you get your kids to listen without yelling, nagging or losing control. It’s exhausting fighting with your kids all day, or mediating their arguments, and there’s not much energy left for you to devote to your blog, your business or yourself.

This free online class is a wonderful place to start. I highly recommend it as it’s made a big difference for us and greatly improved our relationship.

Being part of online groups of like-minded moms can be incredibly helpful too, to ask questions and get ideas for how to work at home with kids. It helps with the loneliness and desire to be in conversation with other moms occasionally.

Join the Mom Bloggers & Business Builders group on Facebook where we share and support each other’s work.

Mom Bloggers and Business Builders Group

How Do You Work from Home With Your Children Around?

What works best for you? How do you schedule your days? What keeps your children entertained and engaged while you work? We would love to know YOUR best tips and suggestions too. Leave a comment below!

13 thoughts on “How to Work at Home with Kids: 10 Best Tips to Save Your Sanity (From Real Moms!)”

  1. leighannlockhartscott

    Great suggestions! I am not a SAHM nor am I a single mom, but I have been working from home while being quarantined and it has been a huge adjustment.

  2. The Twenty Percent

    Such an important topic to be talking about and some great tips for coping! Thanks for sharing 🙂

  3. These are some awesome tips!!

    The thing that works best for me is leaving the house and working at a coffee shop 😂 But obviously most days that isn’t an option.

    I usually get most of my work done after lunch when the baby naps and I can let my big two watch a movie or do tablet time.

    It’s not ideal because they do much more screen time than they used to, but it’s been helping me so much so I’m choosing to give myself grace.

    Thank you for sharing these awesome tips! I saved it for later reference 🥰

    1. I miss naps, though my son never slept longer than 45 minutes so that never helped much. There are lots of ways to make screen time at least semi-beneficial, and as long as it’s balanced with other kinds of play, I don’t even worry about it anymore 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

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