Barbie of dailyselfimprovement.com  asked this follow-up question:

Hi Sarah --

    I think you've given Julie and everyone with small children some great advice here! Could you please elaborate on your techniques for getting older children to respect your office hours?

Hey Barbie - Thanks for Asking!

First let me say, I love that people are finally starting to write in with requests for specific solutions. Now we're getting interactive!  That's what I'm here for ladies! Use me! Please!   If I don't know a solution for you, off the top of my head, I'll hunt one down for ya.

Okay - onto the answer.

There are a few methods  for getting your kids to respect your office hours, but the most important, fundemental one is to try to get  your kids EXCITED about your business.    I have found  that around age 5, children can grasp the simple economics of "Mommy works to make money to buy things for us."  So if your kids are age 5 or older..it's time to call a famly meeting for a good discussion!  Don't forget to include your hubby too! Prep him before hand as to the purpose of the meeting so he'll support you!

Gather everyone around and explain, in an age-appropriate way,  what mommy's business is all about, what  you are  doing when you are  working, and  why mommy works (to buy stuff for the family etc). Don't assume that they know or that they don't care -- get them involved, or if they are older, at least "on the same page" as you.  Don't let your business be a mystery! You're teaching valuable life lessons here!  You can also emphasize how lucky they are because many other mothers have to work at an office, while you are creating a business so that you can be home with them.

Next, open up the floor to their comments, suggestions and frustrations. Don't be surprised if it isn't all positive.   If you do nothing else, acknowledge that even though it may be great that you are working from home, it can be hard to when mommy is home but "busy."  Just acknowledging their feelings goes a long way!  Ask them how they feel when you work and see if you can create some compromise around the time or way in which you work so that they feel that their opinion matters to you.  For example, if they say "I don't like it when you check your email right when we come home from school" Perhaps you can offer, "Okay, How about this, we'll come home, have a snack together and relax for about half-an-hour, then you'll start your homework and I'll check my email."

Finally, (and this is the fun part) ask if they want to help you with the business &  for their ideas on how they can help you.  For example, my five-year-old-son sat with me as I chose the pictures that you see on my homepage and we talked about each one.  My son also likes to draw pictures of me working at my computer and I hang them in my office for inspiration!  And every-once-in-a-while, my son will tell some random mother about my website saying "My mom has a website called SolutionsFor BusyMoms.com. It's really cool, you should go."  My walking business card! Hmmm...maybe I should pay him to do that more often....:)

The point is to try to get your children, at their level, to be a small part of the business and take some sense of pride and ownership in it, but also to acknowledge that sometimes it is frustrating for them.  And when all else fails, a little "Incentive" can help.  For example, when first created my cookbook sale, my son helped me pick the graphics (again) and I told him that after I make 3 sales, I'm going to buy a small gift for him, a small gift for his sister and give the other "sale" to charity.   Well, as you could imagine, he was really rooting for those sales! 

So...before you even create "the rules" -- try to get your kids excited, or at least fully informed, about your business. 

Now...onto a creative way to set & enforce the rules around your office hours.

As I said in the last post, if you children are small, you really do need another responsible adult to supervise them at home, or take them out so that you can get your work done. Ideally, as your children grow, you'll be able work while they are in school. But of course there will be times when you will need to work while the kids are at home, here is a great way to get the time that you need but still be available if the kids really need you:

Create  a "traffic light" out of construction paper for your office door (or any visable space next to your work area - you DO have a seperate work area -- don't you?)

A Red Light Means -  "Stop! Mommy absolutely cannot be interrupted." (Or, as one mom put it, "Knock only if someone is bleeding - heavily!")  Save the use of this color for when you are on a call with a client, or have something that requires serious focus.

A Yellow light means - "Slow Down! You can come in, but stand quietly and wait until I'm ready to talk with you."  You can use this color when you are doing something like writing an article - when you don't want to be interrupted in the middle of a thought, but will be happy to finish your paragraph and then see what your child needs.

A Green light means "Come on in" -- You can put this color on when you are tidying up or office, or doing some simple filing and won't mind being interrupted.

If your kids are still little enough that they have someone else supervising them, you'll want to teach this "Traffic light" system to the babysitter first, so that they can re-inforce it with your children. If they are older, you can simply teach it to them directly.

Don't forget to reward good behavior by giving them your complete attention when your office hours are over!  Also, keep a stash of dollar store toys and stickers to keep 'em busy if the going gets tough.  Finally, some mothers find that it's helpful to set up a child's size desk near thier desk so that the kids can "play office" while mommy works. if the children are older, you can pay them for small tasks like filiing or addressing envelopes.  Personally, every week after shabbos (the Jewish Sabbath) is over, I put ALL of the arts & crafts supplies in neat baskets on my large dining room table and we call it "the creativity table"  so when my kids get an idea for an art project, they can go right to it (and I can sneak in an email or two).

Anyway, those are my suggestions for getting your kids to respect your office time.  First, try getting them to understand & get excited about your business. And if that doesn't work -- enforce the rules with the traffic light and keep a few distractions around for desperate times!

Let me know what you think of these methods or if you have anything to add! Please leave a comment!

Click Here to Read Part 1: HouseKeeping Help!

Click Here to Read Part 2: Balancing A Home Business With Motherhood

Click Here to Read Part 3: Ya Gotta Have Girfriends