Wiki Need some advice on coding from home with young children.

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brklyn_rsr

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I recently started coding from home with a company and I love it! My daughter is in daycare 2 days a week and I am expecting another baby at the end of the year. We are going to take my daughter out of daycare once the baby is born since daycare is so expensive and both children will be at home with me. Anyone have any advice on coding from home with little ones?
 
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brklyn_rsr said:
I recently started coding from home with a company and I love it! My daughter is in daycare 2 days a week and I am expecting another baby at the end of the year. We are going to take my daughter out of daycare once the baby is born since daycare is so expensive and both children will be at home with me. Anyone have any advice on coding from home with little ones?
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I don't work at home full time, but I do spend a lot of time trying to work from home, with a 2-yo and a 1-yo (Call me a workaholic, I guess...) Here's what I'd recommend:

1. In house Babysitter (someone to keep them amused and make sure they don't choke on anything, or otherwise injure themselves while you work...I call mine "husband" :p)
2. A desk w/computer that they can't get to - baby gates are awesome - as soon as they figure out that pushing buttons on the keyboard makes stuff happen on the screen, it gets really hard to keep them from messing with a computer.
3. Earplugs to focus during those colicky spells
4. Probably the most important: Get your kids accustomed to a well-structured schedule each day, particularly when it comes to meal time and nap time - eventually, their little bodies should adjust to it, and it should become a relatively smooth process. Nap time is easy for little babies, but if you have a hectic schedule as they get older, it can be hard to get them to go down for a nap at the same time, for the same amount of time, consistently. You'll get 1000x more work done during nap time, than during any other time.
5. A house keeper, since you'll be working during naptime. (Go ahead - tell yourself that you'll have time for it all - and then let me know how that's going after about a month...:D)
 
Brandi gave you some great tips!

Try to get some work done while they were in bed in the mornings....you'll be amazed at how much you can get done before they get up.

Make sure your friends and family understand that working from home still means work...it is not like we are sitting around eating bons bons. I can not begin to tell you how many times I have had family or friends stopping by anytime they wished and expected me to drop everything I was doing at the moment . You will need to be firm and tell them even though you work from home, you should be considered as someone who works outside of the home. Have them respect your hours.
 
Last comment was on the mark. I don't work from home but a friend who does constantly has family or friends asking her to run errands, etc because she's at home during office hours.
 
I worked at home for five years (doing transcription) when my kids were quite young. I did the majority of my work early in the morning before they woke up, during their nap times and then again after they went to bed. I also worked a lot on the weekends - pretty much the same schedule every day. It worked welll because I was a single mom and I was able to take care of my children and not need daycare. Plus, the office that I worked for was awesome and on the rare occasion that I worked on site I could actually take my kids with me (rare I know) I was very fortunate. I worked there until the office closed but by then my kids were both in school full time so I opted to get a job in an office setting. Working from home was an absolute life saver for me!
 
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I will have to agree with working early in the mornings. And although I no longer have small children at home, it helps me to get up about 5 am and get work done. Then I can schedule the rest of my day to do whatever needs to be done. And yes, the housework is usually the last to get done.
I have successfully worked at home for several years now, in addition to a full time job away from home.
Good luck
Karen
 
Congrats!
Check into "Mothers Day Out" programs at area daycares. It's usually a little less expensive, but you can at least have them away for a few hours each day so you can get the bulk of your work hours done.

I've worked from home for 3+ years. I start each day at about 4:30am when they are still asleep but I stop once they are awake. I don't check emails or answer work related calls when I'm getting them ready in the morning. I also don't talk on the cell phone when I'm in the car taking them to school. They know I work from home, but know they still have 100% Mommy!

You'll notice if you give them a little attention when they want & need it, they'll return the favor when you are trying to finish up your work for the day!
 
I've been coding from home for about 6 or 7 years now. I currently have a three year old and 1 year old at home. It has a lot of challanges of its own, exspecially durring the first few months with the new baby (congratulaitons by the way), but it can be done.

If you're interrested in talking you can send me an e-mail. Use the contact page on my website here http://www.medicalbillingandmedicalcoding.com/ and it will go straight to my personal e-mail.

Good luck to you!
 
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