Is At-home Work Family Friendly?

Many parents seek work that they can do at home, opting out only of sending their kids to daycare or a babysitter's. But sometimes working with kids around creates more stress than you have when working outside of the home. I do take my kids to a babysitter a few days a week, but often I try to work while they are here. It is easy if they are sleeping. But if I have to get something done while they are awake, I usually end up only with more stress. My work may not have the same quality, or a client may have to hear a crying child in the background. Worse yet, my kids may suffer. What fun is it for mom to be home if all she does is tell the kids to "shh!"

If your plan for family friendly work is to work from home, you must take some time to make sure you create an arrangement that is actually family friendly. That might mean engaging the help of someone to watch your kids, waiting until they are in school to start working at home, or even just taking on less work so you aren't as distracted from your kids. SmartMoney.com talks further about the work-at-home dilemma and provides some great practical advice here.