Fostering little ones is both challenging and rewarding. Babies and toddlers require an immense amount of your time and energy. Remote work gives you the flexibility to provide care for a child while still earning a living, but it also comes with unique challenges.
It may seem impossible to balance your work obligations with your foster child's needs. However, you can nurture a child while achieving your professional goals with some planning and tips.
Visit Little Teether for unique teething toys and accessories that are safe for your child!
Connect With Support
Find others who have similar situations to you. Statistics show that more than half of all child maltreatment cases involve children under six. You gain many benefits when talking with people who understand being a foster parent or juggling work and baby schedules. You feel less alone, gain access to resources and information, learn tips and tricks, make friends and build new skills.
Design Your Space
Carefully plan your workspace to ensure productivity. Dedicating an area of your home for work tasks helps you focus. Ensure you have the tools to accomplish your jobs and stay organized. Keep your room neat and clutter-free to eliminate distractions. Set up a safe space for your little one to play nearby.
Schedule Your Day
Strategize for success by sticking to a schedule as much as possible. Get up early to accomplish tasks before your little one awakes and plan meetings or phone calls during nap time. Designate time to give your child undivided attention. Toddlers and babies thrive when they have a routine, and you will get more work done, too.
Provide Play Opportunities
Ensure your foster child has toys, books, and other forms of entertainment while you work. Allow them time to listen to music, watch a program or play an educational game. Rotate items every few days to give them something "new" to play. Consider swapping babysitting services with another parent or arranging for childcare on certain days of the week.
Structure Freelance Work
If you have a freelance career, it is up to you to stay on task, gain clients and collect payments. Use software and other online tools and resources to simplify processes. For example, you can ensure you get paid on time by creating a professional invoice system.
Earning a Business Degree to Improve Job Prospects
Earning an online business degree can dramatically increase your job prospects and benefit your career in countless ways. Through engaging coursework in subjects such as accounting, management, economics and marketing, an online business degree adds value to your skill set that can be leveraged for promotions or higher salaries at current job positions. This is a good option to consider for busy parents who prefer to learn at their own pace.
Create a Self-Care Plan
Attending to your needs can quickly go by the wayside if you do not incorporate them into your agenda. Neglecting self-care can adversely affect your mental health, making your work and parenting tasks more challenging.
Be diligent about getting enough sleep, eating nutritious food, and taking time to destress during the day. Take breaks outside with your child, practice deep breathing techniques, or call a friend for a quick chat. Designate specific days off each week and set boundaries with coworkers and clients, so you do not fall into a habit of working around the clock.
Set Yourself Up for Success
Caring for your foster child while working at home requires planning. Prioritize your workload to tackle essential items with a singular focus. Schedule deep work during times when you have minimal distractions. Turn off your phone, snooze notifications, and stay away from social media while you finish job tasks.
With strategies in place, working from home while fostering little ones can give you the best of both worlds. If you create a schedule, design your space, earn an online degree, and remain flexible when the plan goes out the window, you and your child will benefit.
Author: Emily Graham
Image via Pexels
It’s easy to assume that launching a company while welcoming a new baby isn’t a great idea. The issue is that the timing will never feel perfect. Sometimes, you just need to take the leap to make your dreams a reality.
But you shouldn’t just throw caution to the wind. Instead, you need to plan for your success. That way, your baby and your business (and you) all get what they need to thrive. If you’re ready to get started, Little Teether shares some tips.
Slow and Steady Is Your New Mantra
One thing is true of both new babies and new businesses; they’re often unpredictable. Even the best-laid plans can get derailed by the unexpected. Whether it’s a baby fighting nap time or a client that changes course at the last minute, your day can be thrown into upheaval with zero notice.
Since that’s the case, it’s better to recognize that disruptions aren’t just likely; they’re guaranteed. That’s why you need to avoid unrealistic expectations. Instead, make “slow and steady” your mantra. Choose goals that feel doable even if your original plan doesn’t go perfectly. That way, you can make progress while giving yourself some breathing room.
Remember, you can always move on to your next goal if things go better than you’d hoped. But if they don’t, you won’t get discouraged along the way.
Routines Are Everyone’s Best Friend
Bringing a new baby into your family while launching your company is chaotic under the best of circumstances. There are big changes happening left and right, making it hard to keep everything on target.
That’s why routines are vital. Routines are soothing to babies, giving them a sense of security and normalcy. On the business side, they can reduce the odds that anything will fall through the cracks, effectively setting you up for home-based business success.
Even social routines are great for new parents. Many new parents feel isolated, but you can avoid that by scheduling time to speak with or visit family and friends. It’ll ensure you don’t overlook your needs, increasing the odds that everyone thrives.
Make Efficiency the Name of the Game
Efficiency is a magical state where everything runs seamlessly without any unnecessary effort. While it often seems mythical in nature, it really isn’t. Instead, it’s the result of smart choices and planning, ensuring you have the tools and processes you need to reduce your workload without sacrificing outcomes.
For example, let’s say you still haven’t created your business logo. While this might seem like a complicated task, it’s one you can pull of quickly with an online logo creator. When you take advantage of pre-designed templates, you can make a custom logo in a matter of minutes, all with your preferred fonts and colors. It’s a simple way to cross one more thing off your to-do list.
Seize every opportunity to streamline your personal and professional life. Try calendaring apps that let you color-code your appointments and set customized reminders. Automate your billpaying and use a budgeting app with bank account syncing to reduce financial stress. Choose invoicing software to make invoicing clients simpler when you opt for a platform that offers automation as well as a functional payment button. The ideal choice should provide other time-saving features too like bill management, cash flow projections and tax organization. By embracing consolidation and automation, you can simplify your life dramatically while ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
Create a “Keyword” for When You Need Help ASAP
When you’re starting a business and welcoming a new baby, there will be moments when you’re overwhelmed. In some cases, figuring out how to tell your nearest and dearest that you’re desperate for immediate support isn’t easy. Fortunately, you can make this far easier by choosing a keyword.
With a keyword, you essentially create a signal that, when your family member or friends hear it, lets them know you’re dealing with an extreme situation and need a hand quickly. Essentially, it’s an emergency alert that you can mention in a call or text as a sign that you’re struggling.
As you create your keyword with loved ones, discuss situations that qualify as emergencies. Additionally, limit the use of the keyword to times when it’s legitimately justified. That way, you can get the fast help you need without running the risk of overdoing it.
The takeaway is that if you have a dream, go for it. You can make it happen no matter what life throws your way. If you are feeling overwhelmed or like you can't do it all, ask for help when you need it (most people are more than happy to lend a hand) and take time for yourself every day to recharge. And finally, don't forget to enjoy this special time in your life; it goes by so quickly!
Emily Graham
-Mighty Moms
