What it means to be a work-at-home parent..

I used to love living the ‘laptop lifestyle,’ being ‘location independent,’ and ‘working remotely’ (all those trendy phrases you’ve heard way too much in 2018).

I still have the same job, and technically I have the same opportunities, but with a baby, I’m living more of the ‘locked in your home office and definitely haven’t left the house in 3 days’ lifestyle (just being honest!).

But that’s not a surprise. Everything I’ve done for the last 2 years was to prepare for this.

However, I thought people might be interested in seeing what working from home without a baby versus with a baby might look like (especially for some of you out there considering making a change).

So here you go:

A Day in the Life of Someone Who’s Location Independent (this is what my 2016 looked like)

8 am- 11 am: Wake up, lay in bed for an hour looking at Instagram, and maybe procrastinate for a few hours by checking out different websites. I might do something creative, spend some time writing, reading, watching something on Netflix, sitting on my patio, making plans with a friend, or getting ready to go out to meet a friend.

9 am (or sometimes a bit later)- 6 pm:

About 2 days a week I would get to Panera by 9 am (otherwise all the spots by outlets were taken), or drive to a different coffee shop to meet up with a friend to work.

Or..

9 am- 6 pm: If I worked for 8 or so focused hours two or three days earlier in the week, I was left with a number of free days. With my free time, I’d drive for an hour or so to meet up with friends in various places in South, Central, and North Florida, or hang out with some teacher friends for a long (sometimes 3 hour long) lunch to hear what’s new in life, and/or at the various schools where we all teach (keeping up with local college updates is pretty important as an adjunct, although I don’t think many part-time instructors realize this!).

6 pm- 10 pm: Go see a movie in the park with my husband (or come up with something else to do around town), go to the gym with my sister, meet up with friends, etc.

As for the weekends, my husband and I would regularly go out of town for 3 to 4 days, and I’d work remotely if needed.

It was a really cushy life!

A Day in the Life of Someone Working from a Home Office

7 am- 11 am: Spend the morning with the little lady (which I always look forward to!). She eats, we read some books, dance around to music, play with her toys (or we both sleep longer- the perks of not having a set schedule!)

11 am- 5 pm (2-3 days a week): Grandma comes over to watch baby while I work. When she comes over we chat for a but, I get water, coffee, trail mix, fruit, and avocado toast ready to take into my office (yes, I eat soggy avocado toast later in the day so that I don’t break my focus by going into the kitchen to prepare food at 3 pm- I’m not a picky eater, so I just do what’s easiest and relatively healthy!).

12-2 pm: I head into my home office where my laptop, planner, and school folders are all open and waiting for me (it makes it easier to go in there each morning when it feels like I’m just picking up where I left off, and not starting from scratch!). I spend the first hour or two taking care of every email in my inbox (on my phone- I rarely check email on my laptop), checking all the BB Messages in my courses, and addressing all the student issues and questions from those emails and messages.

2 pm-5 pm: I get started doing some grading (speeches, papers, discussion boards), or develop my courses for the next semester (I feel like I’m constantly doing this- the semesters go by fast!)

5 pm (sometimes 6 pm): My husband comes home and he either takes over watching the baby while I keep working until 7 pm or so, or I stop working to make dinner for us, or we watch Blue Planet as a family (I’m so cheesy- this is one of my favorite parts of the day!), or go on a walk to Publix to enjoy the outdoors, get some exercise, chat, and pick up dinner (it’s all about multitasking!).

7 pm- 10 pm: Put the baby to bed, clean up and organize the house, and get myself ready to call it a night.

This is my schedule 2-3 days a week. On the days that my mom can’t watch the baby, I focus on the Ella and enjoy my time with her. I used to try to work from my laptop on those days, but I didn’t like how it felt to try to be in both ‘work mode’ and ‘mom mode’ at the same time- it just made me feel frustrated and unproductive, which I didn’t like. So these days, I enjoy my baby when we have our special mom and daughter days, and then I make it a point to check my emails for 1-2 hours once my husband gets home.

Early on, I told myself that I would only think about work during dedicated hours that I had set aside to work. These days when it’s just me and Ella at home, that’s all I worry about, and I love it. We play, laugh, watch Disney, and go on walks. This way I feel like I get the best of both worlds- I can be a stay-at-home mom and also a work-at-home mom.

 

So yes, working online without kids and with kids looks very different, but it’s all great and I love the options it gives me.

Happy learning, living, and working remotely!