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Parenting While Working At Home

One of most important aspects of parenting is properly bonding with your child. Many work at home parents stress this to family and friends when the decision is made to raise their children instead of maintaining a job outside the home.

Studies have shown that children are most impressionable between birth and three years of age, and that by age three, they have learned whether they can trust others, including their parents. The bond that is created during this time is the foundation for all other relationships that will be forged during a child's life.

However, there can be some serious consequences for both parent and child when they are each constantly surrounded by the other. These should be taken into consideration when deciding if working at home is for you.

While these situations may be rare, they do happen. The can also be avoided with some creativity on the part of the work at home parent. Here is a short list of things that can result from spending too much time with your children, and how both mom and child can prevent them:

For the child:

Being spoiled: Children surrounded by only one parent (and no peers) may become accustomed to wanting only that parent around. Making sure your child spends ample time during the evening and on weekends with children and the parent not working at home.

This will help ensure that the child's develops a healthy concept of relationships and sharing.

Lack of social skills: Some work at home parents mistakenly don't take time to expose their children to outside activities such as play groups. Scheduling a day off, or a few hours each week, and exposing your child to other children and adults will help them learn to interact with others before they reach school age.

At age 3, it may be appropriate to enroll the child in preschool, to ensure a well-rounded social and learning environment to meet the child's growing needs.

For parents:

Loss of feeling of "self": It's very easy for those who parent full-time to feel like they don't know themselves anymore. A parent may believe he or she is defined only as a parent, spouse, student, employee, housekeeper, or handyman. It is important for everyone to maintain their identity by remembering to indulge in their needs on occasion.

A night out with friends, or a hobby performed away from home could make one feel like a full person again.

Sadness or depression: Lack of adult contact and the struggle to manage both work and home life at the same time may lead some into a deep sadness. This is more apparent with those who infrequently leave the house, or work all day in their pajamas.

There are, of course, some for whom spending the day in pjs is a dream come true!

Dressing up and spending some time out of doors goes a long way toward feeling like a functioning part of society.

These are serious aspects to consider for the work at home parent, and while most parents don't run into these problems, it is important to educate others about the risks of them occurring.