My summer 3-day-a-week babysitter is taking off this week so I have the kids home with me all week (and no babysitter bill!). So this week I am conducting this experiment–will I get an adequate amount of work done in exchange for saving the money on a babysitter?
I am a strong advocate of VAs having at least some childcare when they have young children at home because it’s hard to get much done. But now my “little kids” have turned into a 7 year old and 5 year old who have become quite independent. My biggest concern is that I spend enough “quality” time with them. But at what point do you decide it’s “okay” to have the kids at home with you full-time and just juggle work and family the best you can?
And boy, the things I can do with that money I spend on summer childcare…HersheyPark passes, a new color laser printer, more “field trips” with the kids, etc. Hmm, it sounds really appealing, but I’ll reserve judgement until the end of this week! Stay tuned!
Hidden Helper » Blog Archive » The resolution to the “no childcare” experiment said,
July 30, 2007 @ 11:54 am[…] Two weeks ago, I posted about my first week this summer without a babysitter and whether I thought it would be feasible to go sitter-less in the summers. Well, it is. So, starting this week, the kids are home with me. They are now old enough to understand that if I say I’ll be on the phone with a client or prospect, they are not allowed to interrupt me (barring any emergencies, of course!). Today I was upstairs answering emails when I heard them say, “Mom, Deer, Deer!” and I ran downstairs to look, and sure enough, there were three deer on the hill behind our house. It was so nice to be able to join work and parenting and nature into one single moment! […]