One of the hardest aspects of freelancing (or doing any type of solopreneur or entrepreneur work) is making sure that you spend enough time with your kids. Parenting can be challenging in many circumstances, but when you’re trying to make a living from home, it can be especially rough.
It seems almost pointless to work from home if you can’t spend some time with your kids. After all, if you’re too busy, while you’re at home, you might as well be at the office.
If you are concerned about spending more time with your kids, here are five things you can do to improve the situation:
1. Arrange Your Work Schedule Around Their Time at Home
When my son gets home from school, I’m done with work for the day. This works best when your kids are a little older and go to school, of course. But even if your kids are younger, you can use this principle.
Go ahead and pay for daycare or preschool a couple of days a week. Just make sure that when the kids are home, you spend quality time with them. I sent my son to daycare so I could do my client’s work. And we had more quality time together because when he got home I was ready to focus on him.
2. Get Your Kids Involved
Is there a way to involve your kids in your work? My son does administrative tasks for my business. And, now that he’s older, I also have him do research. Sometimes he researches topics for me or does a little social media posting. This not only gets things done faster, but it also means spending more time with your kids (and they get a chance to earn money). Work on some projects together, and you get to build a bond.
3. Take Your Family on Work Trips
Many freelancers and entrepreneurs attend conferences, have speaking engagements, and travel for other work-related reasons. You can bring your family with you for some of these trips. I know people who come to conferences two days early to get in family time before things start. Then, in between work things, you can do other family things.
4. Outsource Household Chores
So, when you’re not freelancing, do you find your time taken up by household chores? If you wish you were spending more time with your children and not doing laundry or vacuuming the floor, hire someone to take care of chores.
Since hiring someone to clean my house, I have more time to spend with my son. When I’m not working, we can go on hiking adventures or play a board game. I don’t have to worry about cleaning up, so we get more quality time.
5. Cut Back on Work
As a long-time freelancer, I get it. It’s hard to cut back on work. After all, you don’t know if you’ll get another project anytime soon. But sometimes you have to say no — especially if you are making enough money. I started earning less when I moved to Idaho. This lets me spend more time with my son, and I still have plenty of work to ensure we have the income we need.
Spending more time with your kids is important. However, the freelance lifestyle can drag you away from your kids. When you plan ahead, you are more likely to be able to arrange matters so that your work doesn’t get in the way of family time.
