Working at home has its own set of challenges, but somehow those challenges grow dramatically when you have children around. Children are a blessing, and working at home is a blessing in its own way, but somehow the two blessings don’t always mix.

Flexibility is Now Required

When you worked at home before you were a parent, you were able to set your own schedule and take care of things on your own timetable. Now, however, you must learn to work around your child. Babies don’t particularly care when your deadlines are or that you used to like staying up all night to finish big projects and sleeping all morning. Those adorable creatures are selfish, and you can expect your life to shift rather dramatically to her schedule instead of the one you so carefully crafted for yourself.

Claim a Spot for Yourself

Your home will be overrun with toys and children’s items shortly. Even sooner than you realize, your child will be trying to hop onto your computer and play games or update her own Twitter account. Establish your own work space now and make it an off-access area to kids. You might let the little ones play in the room, but make it a rule not to touch the computer or files now and it won’t be questioned extensively down the road.

You’ll Never Have a Normal

Well, you’ll have a normal eventually when your children are grown and able to live their own lives, but in the meantime, you’ll be trying to tailor your schedule to your child’s, only to realize that her schedule has now shifted overnight. Just go with the flow as much as possible and work on keeping your workload moving just as often as her naps and bedtime moves around. It can be extremely frustrating initially, but once you fall into a flexible pattern, you get used to it over time.

Parenting Duties Win

Looking at parenting duties and work duties, unless you work very carefully to establish a different system, the parenting priorities will always win. As the work-at-home parent, you’ll be responsible for taking your child to the doctor, running errands, picking up just a few things, and rushing out for diapers – regardless of other plans you might have deemed important for the day. This will continue as you become the camp and school chauffer down the road.

Work Takes on a New Reality

As a childless adult, you worked for you. As a parent, you’re now working for your family, and the pressure created by that reality can be a bit edgy. If you’re working insane hours and enjoying the disposable extras, a baby can make you take a new look at your work-life balance and reevaluate the importance of those extra work hours. Or the opposite can be true and you find yourself working more to bring in some extra cash to start socking away that college fund.