Working for yourself is an interesting life, as I’m sure most of you know.

Darren Rowse just posted an interesting article about making a contract with yourself. It got me thinking about doing the same thing, and seeing where it leads me. In his contract, he stipulated that if he couldn’t stay on track for at least 2 months, it would probably be time to get a regular job.

I have to continue being honest with myself.

If I had a “real job,” my daughter would be away from me the entire time I’m at work. That isn’t happening with my home job. She’s with me about 80% of the time. That’s a lot.

Another work-from-home mom, Susan Payton, wrote an article “confession” on eMoms At Home. Her child is in daycare full-time. In her words, she works from home and is a mother, but is not a work-from-home mom.

Anyway, this has all got me thinking about the best course of action for my family. I’ve started applying for “regular jobs” in the meantime. As a single mother without a lot of money saved up, I have to make some type of income while I grow my business.

I’ve been extremely lucky the past couple of years to have lots of help from my family. But my daughter is beginning to enjoy (and seems to need) time away from me. And, I have to admit, I notice that I crave some time away from her (even though she’s a sweetie pie).

We get along so much better when she’s been away for a while. We miss each other, but we laugh so much more when we’ve been apart.

For those of you who are WAHMs and WAHDs, what are your experiences and thoughts?

If you’re a work-at-home parent, you know how tough it is to get any work done. Especially if you have babies or toddlers. Here are five tips to help you weather the storm.

1. Don’t expect to get any work done. That’s right. Expecting to get anything done can make you resent your child. Be patient and understanding, and consider it a lucky break if you get anything accomplished.

2. Get help. Hire a mother’s helper, get part-time daycare, swap babysitting with another parent, or bribe your family. Sometimes I have my daughter go to her grandparents’ house for just a couple of hours (naptime works well for everyone).

3. Have fun diversions tucked away, and bring them out only when needed. Toys or DVDs that your child hasn’t seen in a while will occupy her for precious minutes.

4. Don’t sleep when your baby sleeps, contrary to popular wisdom (unless your body leaves you no choice). Use those quiet moments to take one thing off of your “to do” list.

5. ‘Work’ with your child. Give her a spare keyboard and mouse when you’re on the computer, or some crayons and paper when you’re writing. Set her up at her own ‘desk’ while you’re at yours, and the two of you can go to ‘work.’

Have any suggestions you’d like to add? Please let me know. I’m always looking for ways to make working and mothering…well…work!

And if you have a Top Five list you’d like to share with the world, check out the contest on ProBlogger. Have fun. And go get some work done!

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Lately I’ve been glued to my laptop, even when my daughter’s home with me. It’s getting so bad that she grabs my hands to take them off the keyboard or the mouse. That’s one of the downfalls of having a home-based business. It seems like it’s always time to work.

But every so often it’s good to remember that our kids need to be kids.

So today we did something just for her. Last week we went to an open house for this place called “My Gym,” and she loved it! So I enrolled her, and we went today.

My daughter had so much fun! She got to run, play, jump on a trampoline, steal a Barney doll from another toddler, play in a pool of balls, and go down a slide repeatedly. She crawled through tunnels, hung from bars, and walked on a balance beam. Oh yeah…and dance. She loves dancing. I even got down on the floor and played.

If you have a home-based business, make sure to do things outside of your “office” with your child. That’s why we started our businesses. To have the freedom to spend time with our children, right?

Don’t forget to make the time to be a kid with your kids.

Christopher Knight, CEO and publisher of EzineArticles.com, had an interesting blog article the other day about using a stopwatch to increase your writing speed.

Thanks to FlyLady, I’ve been using a similar method lately also.

With a busy toddler, I often find myself stopping and starting a writing assignment…multiple times.

So here’s my Stopwatch Method:

1. Start the timer and focus on the task at hand
2. Stop the timer to change a diaper or take my daughter to the potty
3. Restart the timer…focus for a few minutes
4. Stop the timer to play “ring around the rosie”
5. Restart the timer…try to focus for another few seconds
6. Stop the timer to nurse my daughter

You get the idea.

But the amazing thing is that it works!

Before I had the timer, I felt like I wasnt getting anything done. And I wasn’t. I didn’t focus at all, and I didn’t really know how long I was taking to complete an article or other task.

A timer brings it into perspective. Now I can say to myself with confidence that I spent 2 hours writing.

Sometimes I even set the timer to 15 minutes (or more) to focus on my most important task:

• Uninterrupted play with my daughter (no email, work thoughts, or phonecalls allowed).

Lately I’ve been working into the wee hours of the night, because that’s when my daughter is sleeping. But I’m exhausted! Going to bed at 2 or 3 in the morning and getting awakened around 8 just isn’t cutting it anymore.

Everyday I plan to put my daughter in bed by 9, so I can get just 2 or 3 hours of work done before going to sleep at a reasonable time. Tonight I’ve been successful (at the price of her not getting a nap all day). It’s almost midnight and I am going to bed!

Today I worked on learning about the Microsoft Outlook Business Contact Manager program. This will hopefully keep my business on track.

Tomorrow is computer doctor time, along with a Mommy-Daughter field trip. I have another project to complete as well, and I’ve set aside nap-time for this task. And of course, as I said yesterday, I must get another email campaign underway. And a press release.

So much to do! Not enough hours in the week.

Housework? I’ll get to it. One of the perks of being the sole adult is that no one expects dinner at 6 or a spic and span house.