Yes, I am a mom who works from home with three kids. I get told a lot, “I don’t know how you do it.” I resent that phrase a little bit because it is rarely followed by anything helpful. I know it is said with the best of intentions, but a part of me can’t help but feel a hint of condescension when the words are directed at me. For one thing, it’s rhetorical. If I actually sat down to explain how I do it and show my set-up, I would probably be met with patronizing and disinterested “how cute” type comments. For another, “how I do it” is kind of irrelevant to the reality that I just need to do it because no other method would work for me. No one else is going to do it or provide the mans. But if you happen to be a parent that is legitimately interested in how I do it, I’ve chosen to outline my system and the motivation behind it.

Let’s start with the motivation. Since my husband has worked on-site for many years, and for some reason or another I find hybrid or remote jobs more easily, then I’m the work-from-home parent. When you are in a dual-income household, it is somewhat of a necessity for one of the two parents to have a location-flexible job. For some of us, that may mean running our own business. For others, it is a hybrid or full-time remote job. Keep in mind that a remote job can be a sales job with retail locations you visit and does not mean that you work from home full-time. During COVID, people began to use the term “remote” for all virtual jobs and now rant on LinkedIn whenever a remote job requires living in a specific territory. All remote jobs are not “work from home full time jobs.”

Now for the HOW

My kids are all in school now, and when they were babies, I was blessed enough to have a willing relative available to babysit in the next room over so that I could easily take nursing breaks. Even with the kids in school, there are many days off school when they are home with me such as election days or professional development days. Additionally there are many sick days, and the more kids you have, the more sick days there are because viruses take weeks to cycle through the household. They will be home with you while you’re working sometimes, and few babysitters are available on short notice. Few babysitters also want to get sick. I have quiet sensory activities I set up for my kids while I’m working. You can use my list for ideas or to shop for your own. My kids have learned that if I have a meeting, they should be quiet, and I am finally at the point that I can silence them with a hand signal out of sight from the camera. Before I got there, I relied on a noise-reducing gamer headset.

I’ve been around gamers long enough to know that they don’t want their buddies hearing their moms or girlfriends yelling at them in the background during a raid. Presently, Zoom and most video conference platforms also have simultaneous background noise reduction, but it doesn’t hurt to have added tools. They didn’t used to have thois feature and mothers spoke with their hand over the mute button with the precision of radio hosts. We paved the way for those of you today. Other tips I use to keep them entertained and quiet during meetings include:

• Snacks laid out before the meeting

• Frozen fruit ring pops (this was also really helpful for weaning my toddler)

• A Whiteboard sticker for the wall with dry-erase markers for an easy creative distraction.

If you are still searching for the right job working from home and could benefit from tips from a seasoned professional, I do have a book that I contributed to with job search and resume tips.

Lastly, if you think starting your own business is more up your alley, I will have an upcoming blog post about that.