In honour of Take Your Kid to Work Day (Nov 5) I wanted to talk about tips for working on your blog when you have kids at home that can’t take care of themselves. For some of us, every day is take your kid to work day!

Routine

Get in a routine so your child can get to know your routine and know what to expect and when. Whether it’s work during nap times which are consistent because wake time and meals are consistent or after lunch is work time and the child has a set activity to do then, there needs to be some sort of routine.

Special Activities

If you are going to have to blog during times other than nap or bed time, you are going to need some special activities that your child uses only when you are blogging. It might be a certain toy, set of books and puzzles or colouring book or a combo of all of them but these activities can ONLY be used while you are blogging. As soon as you finish blogging, those activities go away until the next time you blog. That way they will keep your child’s interest longer.

Preparation

This is especially important for the younger kids. Have everything you will need to take care of your baby or young child within arms reach of your desk whenever possible. Have bottles premade in the fridge so you can grab and go or have your nursing pillow and receiving blankets on hand next to your chair. Have your blogging only toys handy (see above). Make sure you have anything you would put in a diaper bag, in your office such as diapers, wipes, change of clothes, blankets, toys, etc. Save time from having to go get things.

Plan

Plan which blogging tasks you can do with the kids around and which ones you absolutely can only do during nap or bed time. Figure this out beforehand so you know what to work on when.

Encourage Older Children to Blog too

If you have children 7 and older, why not encourage them to start a blog too? You can set it up for them and get them going but they can write posts on their own and take their own photos with just a few moments instruction and then they are off!