How to Keep Kids Busy While Working From Home

If you are a mom of school age kids who works from home, it is very easy to get spoiled during the school year. You may have 7 to 8 hours all to yourself to do your work. More importantly, except for the occasional phone call, it's quiet!

But when June rolls around and suddenly you have kids home for the summer, you have to say goodbye to your picturesque work environment. Some moms who work from home just cry uncle and put their business on hold for the summer. Other moms try to just work early mornings and late nights while the kids sleep.

But there is no reason why you can't figure out a way to keep the kids occupied so you can put in a few hours of work during the day. In fact, many moms run at-home businesses with young kids at home all year round and homeschool to boot! So juggling a work schedule and summer activities for the kids is certainly do-able.

Here are a three tips to help you work from home while having kids at home, whether just for the summer or all year round:

1. Have a schedule. If you need to log in so many hours a day, you'll need to schedule your time to maintain some order. Plus, kids thrive on schedules and are already used to that kind of structure if they are school age. Have a general format for each day that includes meals and activities at set times and determine which times you will do a little work.

2. Purchase or design activities for the kids. If you want to have a few hours or (mostly) uninterrupted work time, you'll need to have a plan to keep the kids busy. The types of activities will depend on your children's age ranges and likes. Craft kits, board games, educational computer programs and outdoor toys are some examples of things you can consider.

3. Get a babysitter or swap time with another mom. Summertime is a great time to recruit a neighborhood highschooler to babysit a few hours each week. Or maybe you can find another mother in the neighborhood who would be willing to swap time watching each other's kids.

Working from home with kids around is certainly a challenge. But isn't that why most moms choose to work from home rather than outside the home in the first place - to be with their children. In the end you will need to find a balance that keeps everyone happy and once in awhile just have some fun.

Summertime is a great time for outdoor toys like toy rockets. And keep your eye out for newly released Despicable Me toys