What’s going on with you personally right now? Do you have two kids at home? How old is your youngest? Preschool? How do you get your work done with kids at home? My oldest started preschool this fall, but only for 5 hours per week. My big guy just turned 3 and our little peanut is 18 months.
My Work and Home Life Balance Tips:
- My husband is gone from 8:30am to 5:30pm and very hands on and awesome.
- We have someone clean the whole house monthly. My jobs are the kids, laundry, cooking and shopping, and household “stuff” like oil changes and bill paying.
- I cook dinner during lunch. You know how normal people can eat a meal in 20 minutes but kids take forever? After I eat my lunch and before they are done with theirs, I often sneak in dinner prep. Because they are eating, they are less likely to ask for food. Plus I am right there to chat and sing songs with them.
- I work ahead a bit so I don’t feel too behind. Right now, my to do list is edit one session, drop a print off for a client, balance books, and complete a few blog posts.
- I limit how much work I take. I also shoot lots of film which cuts down editing, even though it does cost more.
- I have never sleep trained my kids (we opted for more gentle approaches) but they have quiet time daily to rest or play. The baby usually sleeps and my older one usually plays. I can nap or work during that time. Then, I can work from 8-10:30 at night if I need to. My husband works at night too and we enjoy doing it nearby but not together (in part because relaxing for us equals good TV and we have different taste).
- Everything is still hard. Going to more than one place with them is HARD…because car seats. We do one thing each morning and have lunch at home. More than that is usually too hard. We joined the Y and that’s been great. On days where we have nothing to do, we just go there and I get two hours of blissful alone time and usually some exercise. It’s a high priority to leave the house once per day.
Owner at Jess Rotenberg Photography
Jessica Rotenberg is the owner of Raleigh-based Jess Rotenberg Photography. She is taking the stress out of getting family photos taken for Raleigh families and transforming their living rooms with beautiful photo walls in the process. She’s currently working on a second venture centered around customer service for small businesses and her writings have been featured on the Huffington Post.
A Vend Raleigh Directory Member
A Vend Raleigh Directory Member
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