[Emily222]

Hi all,

I'm not sure if this is the right folder or if I should put this question under "parenting" but I am primarily interested in opinions from foster parents so here it is!

Do any of you work from home? I sense many of you are stay at home moms, but some seem to have other jobs too.

I ask because we are looking to foster adopt and I'm not sure what age right now, I'm thinking school age but possibly 3,4,5 year old too.

DH and I both work from home. Technically, we both come and go with our businesses but are here 75-80 percent of the time. I would rather be a stay at home mom, but I don't anticipate being able to afford to quit for a few years.

What are your thoughts on working from home and parenting. I feel on one hand it makes my schedule more flexible, but on the other hand -- it might be impossible to get anything done with children in the house. I don't want to ignore the children. I also don't want my business to collapse.

Do any of you work from home? Are there quiet times when the kids are there but you can focus on work for an hour or so at a time uninterrupted? Is it realistic to expect to be able to do both -- work from home and have smallish children in the house? (I work on a computer.)

Thanks for any insights.

[DianeScraps]

I somewhat work from home.

I work as an insurance auditor, make my own 'on the road' schedule and am probably on the road about 40% of my 'work' time. I don't work full time though.

It isn't easy. But while our daughters were still foster I don't think I would have been able to do it at all, if I didn't have the flexability of working from home.

[LibbyHawkins]

I work fulltime and still foster. I think if you treat it like a job - get a sitter for part of the day/wk that allows you to focus on work everything can work out.

There are a lot of working moms on here and somehow we make it happen. Just takes some planning. Good Luck!

[msgypsylee]

I work from home full time. I have a 2 year old in daycare and an infant at home. I tried to keep the toddler home with me when I first started working from home in Dec but it was impossible. Except for naptime I barely got anything done. And to be truthful he did not really enjoy it. He wanted to play and have fun and I couldn't really do that with him. He was bored at home. He was happy to go back to preschool. The nice thing is when he is sick, I can keep him home. Or when they have events at preschool, I can take an hour and go participate. The baby stays home with me. If she is still here by age 1 I will probably start sending her too.

Even though my little guy is not here with me, working from home def allows me more time with him. For me I noe have a great balance.

[Emily222]

Originally Posted by msgypsylee

...The nice thing is when he is sick, I can keep him home. Or when they have events at preschool, I can take an hour and go participate.

Even though my little guy is not here with me, working from home def allows me more time with him. For me I now have a great balance....

That's what I was kind of thinking -- if they're here with me I will not get anything done (it doesn't take much to distract me as is) but I would be much more flexible for appointments and special events.

[tvs4]

I work out of the house and my husband works from home. We still have to have someone come to the house to help watch the kids - or my husband can't get much work done (children are 4 and 11 months) so I'd say if you plan to really get any work done then you might need to consider some childcare help even if you are home. He has an office on the thrid floor and goes up there to work. He does spend lots of time with the kids each day - no commute, he eats lunch with them, he watches them before the sitter gets there - so he is with them more during the day but he still has to actually get work done so we need the sitter too.

[Mystik]

I'm a stay at home mom, but would love to try and incorporate some sort of part time work to do from home as well. The problem I'm finding is any companies that will allow me to do that, and when I try to search for work from home opportunities all I find is a bunch of scams. How do you find a legitimate work from home job? I feel like my only legitimate option is to operate an eBay store and that's not exactly my cup of tea.

What do you do?