{"id":378,"date":"2007-03-21T18:44:21","date_gmt":"2007-03-21T18:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/166.62.41.2\/~holaamericanews\/2007\/03\/21\/stay-at-home-moms-arranging-uninterrupted-work-time\/"},"modified":"2022-07-16T12:17:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-16T17:17:50","slug":"stay-at-home-moms-arranging-uninterrupted-work-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/stay-at-home-moms-arranging-uninterrupted-work-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay-at-Home Moms: Arranging Uninterrupted Work Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

One mom asks for expert advice on how to get her at-home work accomplished while her toddler runs about the house looking for attention.<\/p>\n

By Kathy Bishop and Julia Whitehead
\nSponsored by Siempre Mujer Magazine<\/p>

Advertisements<\/div>\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\n

Q. After three years of trying to juggle a traditional job and being a mom, I\u2019m now working at home part time. I love getting to spend a lot more time with my 3-year-old. There\u2019s just one thing: I have to take work-related calls, and when someone phones, she\u2019s all over me, talking loudly or whining. What can I do?
\nA. This probably isn\u2019t in any parenting manuals, but when you touch the phone, it transmits a tractor beam to your child that pulls her back to the mother ship. No matter that you\u2019re working at home to increase your time with your child — the moment you pick up the receiver, all your daughter knows is that Mom, the person she loves most in the world, is off-limits. Understand that she may feel<\/p>\n

confused and act resistant when you set out to establish the no-interrupting ground rules.
\nExplaining that \u201cMommy\u2019s Busy\u201d
\nSome thoughts: Waving her off when you\u2019re in mid-conversation rarely works. You can try to sit her down in a quiet moment and explain that when Mommy\u2019s on the phone, she\u2019ll have to find something quiet to do. Promising to read a story or play a game once you\u2019re off may be the encouragement she needs — just be sure to follow through. Another useful tactic: Have some special distractions at the ready, say a favorite video or a basket of toys that get pulled out only when you\u2019re taking a call. If you need to, put your caller on hold while you set your child up with a distraction — better that than subjecting your colleague to the \u201clively\u201d negotiations between you and your 3-year-old.
\nIf your daughter still naps, you should schedule work calls during that time whenever possible. Still, if none of these strategies work, or if you find yourself saying, \u201cBe quiet, I\u2019m on the phone,\u201d more times than you\u2019d like, you may want to make some adjustment to meet the needs of your child. Trading child care with a neighbor, hiring a part-time sitter, or finding a half-day preschool or family daycare are good options that would provide you with a few hours a day or a week (depending on your schedule) of uninterrupted work time.
\nKathy Bishop and Julia Whitehead are the authors of The City Parent Handbook: The Complete Guide to the Ups and Downs and Ins and Outs of Raising Young Kids in the City (Rodale, 2004).<\/p>\n

Advertisements<\/div>\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One mom asks for expert advice on how to get her at-home work accomplished while her toddler runs about the house looking for attention. By Kathy Bishop and Julia Whitehead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"es","enabled_languages":["en","es"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holaamericanews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}