Ask for help! If someone can take the kid out for a walk, don’t miss this chance! Because the best way to work – is when there are no kids to interrupt. You can fully concentrate on the task and complete it twice faster. Housework can wait until the kids are back, and you can do it together.

Set out a sleeping schedule. This is the secret to keeping your mind sane with kids younger than 2-3 yo. Because you will be able to know that 13:00-15:00, for example, and 19:00 – 22:00 – is work time. It’s whole 5 hours, by the way. The best part of this is that you won’t stress out during the day trying to carve 15 minutes for work here and there. Instead, you will be able to rest from work effectively. And then work effectively when the kid is sleeping. Did you know that a child’s sleep cycle is 45 minutes? Which is precisely the time your brain can keep concentration on a task before requiring a break.

With older kids, negotiation ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶b̶l̶a̶c̶k̶m̶a̶i̶l̶ ̶works great. Gadgets and sweets are not such a high price to pay for a chance to have a client call behind closed doors. Sometimes, it brings surprise benefits because kids are ready to do everything to understand Minecraft explanations and even teach themselves to read (this really happened). Kids over 4 yo can entertain themselves for a while and understand the set rules you agreed upon.

Children often want to participate in mom’s calls and work. You don’t always have to shush them away. Clients often don’t mind having a child playing beside the mom on the call. With kids 3+ you can explain what you are doing and nurture the idea that work can be fun and interesting.

Additional time for work comes up during various extracurricular activities such as dancing, swimming or anything else the child enjoys.

As for any other freelancer working from home, it is vital to establish a workplace. In the working mom scenario, this isn’t just to separate work from home for yourself, but also to set clear rules for the kid to understand when you are “at work”.