How I Work from Home 8 Hours a Day and Take Care of my Kids

I’ve heard many moms question whether or not you can work at home with children. I was one of them until I tested it out on my maternity leave. Although it’s not easy, it’s definitely doable.

Desperate to find a way to make money from home and quit my 9-5 to stay home with my newborn and two-year-old son, I found blogging. It was a way to share information and help others while making an income for my family, and I LOVE IT!

You can see how I started my blog for only $84.

Blogging is not for everyone, it takes A LOT of work, resilience, and persistence and may take some time before you even see an income. But it has given me the flexibility to stay home with my kids and make my own schedule.

If blogging is not for you, consider these other Stay at Home Mom Jobs.

Are you on Instagram? I’ve been asked to share more on how I work from home with kids and deal with the daily things of being a business owner, so be sure to follow me as I share with you guys my best tips. Click to follow me.

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Update: I need to update this post because I now have a 4-year-old son, 2-year-old daughter and 2 month old baby. Now that my kids don’t take naps every day I have had to figure out how to still get some work done while keeping them busy.

Here are 7 of my Tried and True Go-to Activities. Hopefully, these will help you with your kids as well

Are you on Instagram? I’ve been asked to share more on how I work from home with kids and deal with the daily things of being a business owner, so be sure to follow me as I share with you guys my best tips. Click to follow me.

Here is how I took care of my newborn daughter and busy toddler and still got work done. It’s all about time management and here’s how I do it

My newborn daughter is simply AMAZING! She SLEEPS most of the day and that frees me up to do other things. I can’t say enough about her bassinet, she is safe, comfy and I attribute a lot of her sleep to it. I purchased the Halo bassinet, and you can find it here. I highly recommend it (nice price tag, but you get what you pay for) check out the reviews (I always do).

When it comes to working with my daughter, it’s no problem, I usually just hold her while I work on my laptop or in my Boba Wrap when she’s up.

NOW, with my 2-year-old son. This is currently our daily routine since I’m in the house all day (remember I just had a baby).

6 AM – I get up, do my hygiene, make coffee, read my bible and pray

6:30 AM – I work on whatever is on my to-do list that I made the night before

Tip: Plan out your day each night so you will stay on task in the morning

7:30 AM – My son usually gets up at this time and watches Little Einsteins (Great show!) while I continue to work

1 hour done

8:30 AM – TV OFF! Time to eat breakfast. I usually clean from the night before, and my son is right behind me (he’s been very clingy ever since I had my daughter) or getting into something he shouldn’t

2 hours done

9:30 AM – I Pinterested (new word) up what you do with a toddler all day and found some neat educational things that keep him busy. I purchased some buttons from Amazon and toss snack cups to help him with his colors, counting, and shapes.

Related: See what other toys I use to keep my toddler busy

Right now, he is saying everything is blue and has more fun pouring all the buttons in one bowl into the other but we’re getting there :-). This is a great way to keep him busy for some time.

10:30 AM – Snack time, I have a VERY picky eater, so I try and get him to eat anything. I try and keep him active as we prepare for my secret weapon, BATH TIME. I don’t know about yours but my son LOVESSSS the Bath.

While most people bathe their kids at night (I do this too if we were out and he needs one) but I do mine in the middle of the day. My son has what I now call the best toy ever because it keeps him busy and he wants to stay in the bath even longer, it’s called the Flow N Spill Spout. It has an automated water squirting spout for endless fun.

My son will literally be in the bath for 30 minutes to an hour playing with this. And this gives me more time to work while I sit and watch him while wearing my daughter or she’ll be rocking away in the best rocker of all time (because she rarely ever cries in this).

This Flow N Spill Spout is also the best toy ever because it keeps him so busy you don’t get any of those “look at me mom,” “watch me do this”! It’s great independent time for him.

2:30/3 hours done

11:30 AM – Naptime! After his bath my son is so sleepy, it takes him no time to fall asleep for TWO to THREE hours!!! I attribute this to the long warm bath. And guess who has more time to work! If he gets up before 2, I usually let him play on my phone or watch tv.

5 hours done (or more)

2 – 3 PM – Eat a late lunch (I usually eat mine during naptime), we’ll play with my daughter (he loves his new sister), dance to some music, and do some laundry (he tries to help) and I’ll start on dinner.

4 PM – I usually take a shower after my daughter takes ANOTHER nap and let my son watch some tv. I like to be nice and fresh before my husband comes home (hey, I still want to look good when he comes home, it matters)

5 PM – The house is clean and this is pretty much chill time doing whatever before my husband comes home

6:30 PM – Daddy is home. FREEDOM!! I get a small break, we eat dinner and play with the kids

7:30 PM – We usually watch tv together as a family while I have my laptop with me working

8:30 PM – We start to put my son to bed by reading a story (his current favorite is Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See?) and saying our prayers (I try and get my husband to do this so I can work)..but it’s me 99.5% of the time.

I know some people have their kids in bed by 7 or 8, but my husband gets home around 6:30 so they need to spend more than an hour together before bedtime.

6 hours done

9-12 PM – Husband and me time (and baby if she’s up). We usually chill and watch tv.  I’ll pick up my laptop to work some more when the moments right.

8 hours done

Word of advice for married women: Put your laptop and phone down to spend some quality time with your husband. I know there is so much work to do, but you have to put your marriage first, you’ll know when it’s the right time to pick your laptop back up. If I have to work a little later to put our marriage first, I’ll do that.

So there you have it, of course, each day might differ a little if my son decides to get up from his nap earlier and as my daughter gets older this routine will change, but this is how I get 8 hours of work done or more in a day while staying home with my kids, you will learn it is all about managing your time wisely. Every day is different but that’s why planning is so important.

Pretty much all the jobs on this list can work with a schedule like this.

I can’t wait to get up and out of the house to go to the library and the park, but we will always be home for nap time because nap time = work time.

You HAVE to know when to turn work off (this is one of the hardest parts for me). I know how it is when you’re in the zone and just want to get a little more work done, but your family has to come first. This is the reason why you chose to work from home (I think).

You also have to ELIMINATE all distractions when you have the time to work. You already have a small window of time. So be selective when your phone rings or a message pops up, only answer for emergencies, or just calls you need to take, forget social media, and leave the cleaning for later. You have to be disciplined for this to work.

If you can get help from family or a babysitter (like I do from time to time), do it! (Don’t leave your kids with just any family member or babysitter be selective, and always remember safety first) This is how you get to have the best of both worlds; To make money AND raise your kids.

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How much time do you get to work with your kids at home? How do you keep your Toddler busy while you work? Let me know in the comments! I’m always looking for new ideas.