When I transitioned from working a day job in the grueling retail world to working from home as a writer, I figured it would be fairly cost-effective and ideal situation for all involved. My kids would have me home more and I would get a lot more done around the house, in addition to making money. I mean, if that's not the ultimate win, I don't know what is, right? Little did I know that working from home when you have multiple kids is not the dream you may or may not have envisioned. In fact, some days it can be a full-blown nightmare, if I'm being totally honest.
I haven't yet determined which is worse: the total lack of productivity that sometimes happens, leaving me apologizing to my colleagues, or the guilt that overwhelms me when I realize that my kids have been watching television for several hours while I try to meet a deadline. Usually, dinner is nowhere on the horizon, despite it being dinner time, so I'm totally going to order pizza. Again. Right, so, um, about that whole cost-effective thing.
Then, of course, there's the ongoing question of how much childcare to employ so that your kids can get the attention they need and you can accomplish the work you need to accomplish. The balancing act is tough, to say the absolute least, and at times there may be what can only be described as an absolute circus in your home. You will (hopefully) get it all sorted out, but in the meantime, what you thought it was going to be like is quite different than what it's actually like.