If you’re a full-time parent thinking of working from home, here are a few considerations. It’s not for everyone, but with a little planning it can be very rewarding.

Be Realistic: Take a few minutes and honestly answer these questions

• Why do you want to work from home?
• Will you be able to balance everything that has to be done in a day?
• Will you have any time left over to take care of yourself?
• Working from home (as well as being a stay-at-home parent) can be very isolating. Are you the type of person who can work alone and not miss the banter and comradery of the office?
• Do you usually meet deadlines without prompting?
• What will you have to give up?
• If you are married, will this be hard on your marriage in any way?
• Will it be hard on your kids?

Start as You Mean to Go On

If you have very young children and plan on working when they are asleep, make arrangements from the very beginning to do so. A set-your-own-hours job is ideal, such as freelance or contract work that you can do on your own. If your job involves contacting clients or being available for phone calls during the day, you’ll have less flexibility and you need to plan accordingly.

If your children are older and you plan to work while they entertain themselves, be very specific with them about when they can and cannot interrupt you, what they can and cannot do, and how they are to behave. Give them actual activities or chores to do (other than watching TV) while you are working so they don’t get bored. Boredom can quickly lead to trouble!

Teach your children from the beginning that you are home because you want to be there for them. Make it clear that their needs are more important that your work. If you get less sleep, so be it. If your two year old brings you a book to read together, don’t turn her away so that you can finish your work. In that moment, put work aside and spend time with her. She needs you more.

If you plan on working four hours a day, then only work four hours a day. If you put in five or six, your boss will expect that to continue.

Plan, Plan, Plan

Make your priority list and stick to it. What’s more important: making dinner or finishing your report? Playing outside with your children or making a sales call? How can you get it all done? With creative thinking and planning, it is possible, but these types of decisions are best planned ahead of time. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you promised the little ones you’d all go for a picnic, but then you have to cancel out on them because of work.

Make a contingency plan. There will be sick days, vacation days, etc. when you need to be out. Find out ahead of time how to handle that.

Plan to keep your job. Since you’re not as available, you need to make up for it by being extra diligent, courteous, easy to work with, and efficient. Your boss doesn’t have to let you work from home, so show him or her that you and your work are worth it. Make a (loose) daily schedule to get the most out of the hours you have.

Get Help

If you can afford help, get help. It doesn’t necessarily have to be child care. If you’re like me, you don’t really want anybody else taking care of your children. But you can hire a maid service a couple of times a month for not too much money, or you could hire someone to keep your yard looking nice. You’ve got enough on your plate, so don’t feel guilty doling some of the more mundane jobs out.

When your spouse or partner is home, take advantage of the time. Take care of yourself, spend time together as a family, get some work done, but don’t waste it.

Hand some jobs over to your partner/spouse. Give your kids jobs to do too! Just because you stay home with the kids all day does NOT mean you have to do it all alone. Cooking, baths for the children, story time, walking the dog, whatever! In a family, everyone pitches in.

Save Your Sanity

Try to leave the house at least once a day. Staying in your own house all day will drive you up the wall. Get up and get dressed. Just because you’re home all day doesn’t mean you have to become a slob. Set a good example for the kids!

Get involved in the outside world, whether through a play group for your kids, church, book club, whatever, just don’t lose touch with actual people. (No, emailing people doesn’t count!)

Don’t be fooled by pyramid schemes or scams offering big money to work from home. If you don’t have a real job offer from a real person, it’s not a real job.

If you’re working from a computer, be sure to get up and walk around every half hour or so in order to stretch and change position. Even though you're in your own home all day, you still need to exercise and eat right. No snacking on M&M's round the clock.

Set up your own work space. If you’re planning on working at this job long-term, the kitchen table probably isn’t going to cut it. Get a real desk, a comfortable office chair, and some sort of filing system to get you started. As you get more comfortable working from home, you can add more items that you may need. Make sure the little ones don't have access to your work space. Their sticky fingers can misplace or ruin your hard work!

You can be successful as a stay-at-home parent with a stay-at-home job. Just remember, you’ll be focusing on taking care of everyone and everything else, but you have to leave time for yourself as well. Having a well-balanced life and family includes YOU!