You’re trying to get some work done. The kids just won’t give you any peace. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to get dishes done, laundry, send an email or something else. They want you. Now!

Days like that can drive a parent crazy. You have a lot to do, and the kids just aren’t cooperating. It makes the job so much longer.

Ever consider just giving in, at least for a few minutes?

Often enough, this has been my best way to get some peace and quiet for getting other stuff done. I take a break and have some fun with the kids. When they’re trying so hard for attention, it’s often just that they really need it right then.

Most of the time, they aren’t after a huge time commitment. Just a few minutes of play. My son likes the “tickle spider” game. A couple minutes of that makes him very happy. But other times he or my daughter will need something that takes a bit longer.

If you really need the time at that minute, of course you can take it to get things done. But take the time to tell your kids why. Give them a time frame until you can go play. Set a timer if that helps.

It’s rough sometimes giving up the time you had planned to get something accomplished. Many stay at home moms have really busy daily schedules, and if something else comes up, it’s common to let playtime with the kids slide a little.

Doesn’t mean it’s your best choice. Just the easiest one.

We all know how fast children grow. You won’t regret playing extra, but you might regret getting too involved in caring for your home or working.

Sometimes this means learning to say no to people. If you’re at home people often assume you have tons of free time. And you might sometimes.

Other times, your life is quite full of other things. These are the times that you have to learn to refuse extra commitments. Overdoing it just tires you out and limits the time you have for your family.

Prioritizing can be one of the most important skills a stay at home mom can develop. But no matter how much you plan and prioritize, sometimes your kids will have other ideas. Cooperating with the ideas your children have for having fun together doesn’t have to mess up your plan for the entire day. Just take a few minutes and have some fun together.

When you work at home the hard part isn’t just finding the time to work. It’s figuring out what your priorities are at a given time. Figuring out what to do can be such a huge time waster.

I’ve gotten pretty good at managing my work time. I check my email once a day unless I have a specific reason to check it more often. That one drives family members nuts since they tend to email me later in the day than I’m paying any attention to my email. But if it’s all that important, they can always call me!

I have my stats addiction under pretty good control too. No more than once daily for traffic, once weekly for most sales stats unless I’m tracking something specific.

So with all the junk out of the way, it’s often still hard to figure out what my priority is. Blog posting? EBook writing? Finding new affiliate products to promote? Article writing? Website updates?

There’s always plenty to do!

I have a basic priority list combined with a schedule for the month. Blog posting is often, but not always a priority. There are certain days I focus on article writing. And times that I leave it up to whimsy. What’s working at home if you can’t relax and do a bit of what you want?

I’ve found that the more organized I keep these things, the better I do overall in terms of production. It’s so hard many days to find enough time to work on my business that I can’t afford to waste time on figuring out what I should be doing.