Mom Seeking Work at Home

This question gets asked here almost weekly and I've answered it multiple times myself because I work from home. You should look up some of the prior answers. Even though my kids are older I work only when they are in school. I work part time for a fraction of my former salary and do not have benefits. I do contract work for my former full time employer and I am a legal editor, for which my JD is required. I am grateful for the opportunity, yet it is a significant change from full time work and it is real work. I can't concentrate when my kids are home. Most legitimate work from home jobs require a particular skill set or training and is often done for former employers. What about exploring a job that doesn't include travel, but isn't necessarily work from home?

Hey, if you really find an employer who will pay you to stay home with your child and to do housework, cook, do laundry, run errands, and more please let us all know. Because an honest employer will require you to get child care for your child while you are working for them.

That's a common misconception. You don't work from home without putting your child in a child care center, they expect you to do your job just like you are in their building.

So figure out a way where you can spend more time at home but do your job at work. Apply for different positions where you don't have to travel. Many executives have good paying jobs and they don't travel.

My former manager gave me the flexibility to work from home only occasionally but wouldn't commit to regularly working from home, even one day/wk. It was for occasions when there was bad weather that would add to my already 1-hr commute or when there were doctors appointments for myself or the kids or events at school. (I always scheduled the first or last appointment of the day, but it still saved commuting to the office after appointments.) I had my kids in daycare because I worked in an office, and the only reason my manager really agreed to some work at home was because she knew I would still be dropping off my kids at daycare. You really can't get any meaningful work done at home with kids without a sitter in the house or just parking them in front of the TV all day. Sure, I would throw in a load of laundry and take care of other tasks during the day, but that was still probably less time than I might spend during the day chatting "at the water cooler." Despite that, I was still more focused working from home. Depending on your personality, working from home -- especially full time -- can be difficult. You're isolated and don't have any social interaction.

Truthfully, it was kind of annoying that I couldn't work from home more because my job had transitioned such that I really didn't need to physically be in the office. Most of the people I worked with were at other locations across the country, so our communication was by email or conference call.

Good luck.

I worked primarily from home for a year after my son was born, it was with the same college I had been teaching at prior to his arrival. I switched from teaching on campus classes to online classes, however it was so much harder than I anticipated. Since I was working from home with an infant, it was double the work to balance. I ended up either having to have someone come watch the baby so I could work or working all evening when my husband was home. In the end, it wasn't worth it and we made some sacrifices so I could just stay home. If going part time is an option, I would go that route rather than trying to work from home full time.

You'll certainly be hit up by all the MLM / Durect Sales recruiters.... Ugh

You do know that working from home is WORK??? No one will pay you to work and watch your children!! Have you searched this question here? It's a routine question.

Yes I work from home and have over 6 yrs BUT my child was in school and now off to college. There is NO wayi could do my job with a child under my foot. I could lose thousands of dollars if I'm not spot on with my job.

Some, I say some, people who have a proven record with their employer can work from home.... Provided the have demonstrated self discipline, work ethic and they have child care if they have children.

If one can work from home, watch their children and get paid... Don't you think there would be no corporate jobs???

Think clearly, realistically and outside the box. You're not going to be paid by anyone to stay home and watch your children.

Best wishes

You mentioned traveling as taking you away too much. You might want to consider another position within the company that does not involve travel or at least not as much travel.

Working part time is also woth considering. It would give you more time at home. The down side of that is that you are usually paid significantly less and receive no benefits. Also, part time child care is a bit more challenging to find.

I used to be a SAHM. Well, sort of. I almost always had a part time job. I work full time now. I teach, so I'm a SAHM during the summer. Some people absolutely love it and are great at it. I fully appreciate being with my kids during the summer and am so glad they don't have to spend their summers in daycare. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I am so glad I have the summers with them, but I must admit, I am starting to get excited about school starting again. We've finished lots of our "Back to School" shopping, and knowing school starts in less than a month feels good. Being a SAHM is so much more work than a full time job! Sometimes I look forward to going to my office just so I can shut the door and enjoy the silence.

Good luck deciding what makes the most sense for your family.

I went from a full time corporate job in an office to a full time corporate job at home. In my opinion, you won't find a work at home job through any of the websites you find on the Internet. There is no "find a job at home" site that is anything but a scam.

However, you can find a work at home job by applying to major corporations that allow work from home. Or, better yet, by asking your current employer if you can work from home. It sounds like your problem is actually the amount of travel - so how about asking for a different position that requires less?

I'm sure you already know that you can't work from home and take care of your child at the same time. So you'll still need to plan for a nanny/preschool/regular school plus aftercare, or whatever. But you won't be commuting to an office so you'll have that extra time with your family. And working from home allows you (usually) to get some things done around the house during the day - throw in a load of laundry during a conference call, sweep the back patio as a five minute break between assignments, etc. So that helps give you more time with your family too.

Your best bet is to work with your employer to design a job that affords you the flexibility you want. You're probably certain they won't allow it, but you truly never know until you ask. I did that 10 years ago -- certain that they'd tell me to turn in my resignation rather than let me move half way across the country and work from home, but they said yes and I have worked from home ever since.

It would help to know what you exactly do. I can work from home, I don't unless I have a snow day or something I need to be home for my kids. I set my hours so I go in at five in the morning and leave at one, which for a teen and 12 year old is when they get up so I miss nothing. :)

I am an accountant and data analyst. I can work anywhere I have internet because everything I do is pulling from our databases and working my magic.

So I am saying look at what you do and see how it can be done at home...

Depending on your skill set you MAY be able to find a legitimate work from home job but that doesn't really give you more time with your family. Unless you are working at night and awake during the day you will still need childcare for your son. You can't work and spend time with him at the same time (unless you're doing a home daycare of course, but even then your time will be split between him and the other kids.)
Can you work evenings or weekends, while your husband's at home with your son? Of course you save on daycare but get less time with your husband, which isn't great either.

First of all, beware of MLM's (multilevel marketers) on here :-). Second, could you reduce your hours to part-time?

As others will tell you, working at home is work. That means still having child care for the kids while you work.

Good luck.

Look up momcorps.com Not necessarily work from home, but they understand the need for flexibility. They list jobs available around the country and are looking for reliable, dependable, skilled Moms. Some of it is IT work, some are for copywriters, legal analysts, CPA, event planning. Depends on what you do and if that particular job is available in your area.

Without knowing your skill set and interests, it's difficult to know how to advise you. My husband and I both work from home (in different areas) so we have plenty of experience here.

It seems to me that you have 3 main options.

One is to find a job within your current company that does not involve traveling and which could be done part of the time at home. But if that were a choice for you, I think you'd have seen it already and wouldn't be posting here. So either your company doesn't have (and won't consider) an option like that, or your skills (and their industry) is completely unsuited to at-home work. No employers will pay you to play with your kid, as other have said, and no work on deadline can be completed if the worker is dealing with laundry, playtime and housework.

The second is direct sales. The comments frequently made on this site about direct sales and multi-level marketing show a lack of understanding of the industry. MLM is completely legitimate IF you have a legitimate company. Like corporate work - there are good corporations and terrible, dishonest ones (just read up on WalMart, for example, or any company where the top owners/CEOs are making all the money while the workers labor for minimum wage and few benefits). MLM is endorsed by so many economic experts, from Suze Orman to Robert Kiyosaki. Companies in the Direct Selling Association have been evaluated for their ethics and employee satisfaction, so that's 200 companies for sure (out of 5000+) who are good choices. BUT it's absolutely work! You must be self-directed, self-disciplined, have a good product, and not be interested in hawking products to your friends all the time. With a good company and a good compensation plan and excellent/free training and no big cash buy-in, you can make money based on your own efforts. You don't have certain benefits, but you have a lot of advantages of an in-home business including significant tax deductions. But you have to get up, get dressed, go to your in-home office, get on the phone, and do the work. You have to put in the time to build an organization that pays you every month. There are ways to evaluate a company and its products/comp plan but don't think that you just sit at your kitchen table and the phone just rings and rings. You have to be entrepreneurial in nature to make it work. You have to build a network - the people who don't do this are the annoying ones who are always nagging their friends and relatives to purchase something. You need a product or service that everyone needs every month, not just giftware for holiday giving or something that can only be marketed to a small niche market.

A third option is to have a skill that's in demand, and to be able to work/schedule well. My husband is a copywriter and has worked from home for 20 years. He's either working on an assignment or calling ad agencies who use freelancers or calling companies directly. He gets referrals because he's well known and has won many awards, but that means he's put in the time already. It's a business of client-nurturing as well as writing - creating a network of sources and juggling the assignments as they come in. A friend of ours is a freelance editor - it requires writing skills but very different from the ones my husband uses. She's also working on referrals and contacting newspaper/magazine editors, creating a network, and building on that. Even people who do artisanal work (making anything from baby items to furniture or pottery) have to network it, get into shows, develop a referral list, and so on. That's not sitting around the house. All of this work involves deadlines with no allowances for a sick child or a beautiful day to take him to the beach. However, your years in the corporate world may have given you a good base of contacts as well as skills. If you are well-regarded and self-disciplined, this could work for you.

So you see, you either stay with the company you have, or you do something that builds a network.

I suggest you analyze your skills and interests, and that you take a few days off and actually keep very careful track of how much time you have to do something other than enjoy your child. Sit and read a book - something uninterrupted and requiring focus. See how far you get. Also count the interruptions - how many times you got up to empty the dishwasher, throw in a load of wash, pick up toys, deal with a booboo. If the child naps, those are the hours you have. If he sleeps at night, those are the hours your have (make sure you husband doesn't expect to spend time with you). If your husband or your mother or a babysitter can take him for part of the time, you can work those hours. But you will not be with your child during those hours anymore than if you were at a corporate job. You won't have commuting cots and wardrobe costs, and you won't be traveling (so at least you will be home every night), but you will find you don't have 40 hours without plenty of help. Maybe you have 10? 20? So calculate the hourly wage you would be paid and subtract babysitting costs.

Serious self-analysis and reflection, as well as an objective calculating of your true available hours as well as when during the day those occur, will give you an idea of what you can reasonably accomplish. No matter what you choose, it will involve time away from your child.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

I disagree with Everley. Yes many websites are scams however www.ratracerebellion.com is a legit free website that scopes out real jobs to make sure they are not scams. Click on today's leads for the job listings.I do agree with everyone though it will be hard to do it with children in the home.