I was recently looking through the International Articles Directory, trying to decide what to write about next, when I stumbled across this article : Coping as a work-at-home parent. Not sure why it was there, except that becoming a parent in any way, shape, or form makes you have to decided where and how you're going to work.

Recognizing myself, I clicked on the link. I am always looking for tips on how to run my life better. I like to read self-help, although I don’t always take the advice I’m given.

The writer says to write a priority list for the week (nothing new there) and also to schedule your child’s time for the day. Your child’s time should be divided into low-level parenting time and high-level parenting time. Low-level time is the times when you don’t have to spend too much time or attention on your child. For example, when kids wake up in the morning they might be really happy to watch a little TV for a half hour or so while gaining consciousness. High-level parenting times are times when you have to pay better attention: meal times, times when the child wants to interact, etc. For most toddlers there’ll probably be more high-level times than low-level. For many pre-teens there might be more low-level than high.

For Little J it is high level, all the time. He very rarely will watch TV, and when he does it lasts about 10 minutes, tops. He doesn’t play by himself very well. When he’s with me he is WITH me - on me, touching me, kissing me, talking to me, hitting me, yelling at me, etc. When he's with his brother he's on him, too, but they're more likely to wrestle or fight as Big J protests Little J's intrusions into his space.

Despite this CHAOS, I do manage to do my writing projects, run my publishing company, run an associated business, run my house (kind of), and help my husband with his stuff AND I try not to spend all my time yelling at my kids (although I will admit to spending some time yelling at them.)

So - here’s my survival guide for work-at-home parents who have a child who really, really, really, really wants your attention all the time and really, really, really, really won’t stop until you give it to him.

1. Get up early. Really early. Like 5 a.m., or maybe 4:30. That’ll give you at least an hour.

2. Get childcare! For goodness sakes, I don’t get how anyone gets much done at home, even with a perfectly wonderful little child, without some kind of childcare. Maybe it’s not paid - you can always swap with a friend or something - but you need some time to concentrate.

3. Enlist your spouse’s help. Be really clear. There have been many weekends that I start our Friday night by telling my lovely husband that I need an hour on Saturday and at least two on Sunday - and he’ll need to do something with the kids during that time. Heck, I watch them all week while he works. It’s the least he can do for me.

4. Live near grandparents. This goes with #2, above.

5. Do substandard work. Just kidding, but sometimes I wonder what feats of genius I’d be capable of it I didn’t have kids running around most of the time.