If you've been thinking about working at home to save yourself money on childcare, unless your children are school age, don't bother. If you've been considering working at home as a way of supervising your children's caregivers, then I highly recommend it. The odd thing about important business calls is that they inevitably come at the very instant that the kids are clamoring for dinner, throwing tantrums or terrorizing each other. An even stranger phenomenon is the fact that even the tiniest children appear to have psychic ways of knowing when a business call is critical. It is at that precise moment, when your children are most likely to develop the excruciating colic, the insoluble sibling problem and the disappointment that escalates into shrieks and chaos.
Children crave attention.
Understand that if you are pecking away at your home computer or conducting business while your children are parked in front of Nickelodeon, you are just as faulty as the Nanny who does the same. Beepers and cell phones are marvelous inventions. These tools can help you be at your child's Book Fair, yet still enable you to catch those crucial calls. If you are home with your children and think you can do it all, remember to regularly schedule quality time for the kids. The minute you feel that the children are not getting what they need from you, consider finding someone to give them some kind of alternate care.