No one who has really worked at a home business thinks it’s easy. Saying a home business is easy is reserved for those who picture it as sitting on the couch watching tv and somehow generating a small amount of money without working. Real business just isn’t like that, especially if you have kids.

One of my biggest challenges right now is that my kids are on rather difficult schedules. Gage currently prefers to nap about the time Ariel wants her lunch. Naptime and lunchtime are often my best working times, but when they intersect it isn’t so easy. First I have to get Gage to sleep, then make Ariel’s lunch and my own. By the time I’m done eating, he’s often awake. Little rascal’s been taking short naps lately!

The trick to coping with times like this is finding things they’ll do without me. This is more easily done with Ariel than with Gage, as he is in one of those clingy phases. For Ariel, I can pull out play dough and she’ll be happy for a time or I can let her play on the old computer. I have yet to find a toy that will keep Gage busy for more than a few minutes on a regular basis. Fortunately, he’s getting more interested in what his sister does now that he can walk a little, so I expect all this to improve soon.

After they go to bed is another great time for me to work, but I have to balance that with spending time with my husband. Can’t neglect him! Now that I’m over my most recent cold I’m hoping to have the energy to stay up a little late one night a week to get work done with no interference from anyone. Stuff like that really helps me accomplish my goals.

We also try to remember to take at least one full day a week for family activities. We spent Saturday at the zoo, which was a lot of fun. The weather has been ridiculously warm (mid 80s!), so hiking is on the list sometime soon too.

The balance between home business and family is often a precarious one, as it is all to easy to work too much or not enough. I can always think of things I’d like to be doing on either side of that equation.