2012 has been fantastic, explorative, crazy, frenzied, and busy for our multigenerational nest.

I launched my coaching practice, fulltime, at the start of 2012. What a transition for our entire family. With me having a home office, I know (for certain) I skunked my mother-in-law’s groove in how she conducted her day-to-day business and living in our house. She and I both had to figure out how to adjust to this flow without going insane, giving each the stink eye, and getting distracted by a major change.

We decided to give ourselves the month of January to collect data and to see how things played out. We didn’t set any expectations. On January 4, my kids returned to school after winter break, and then we cast the dice and let it ride.

For me, the transition to being a work from home mom sucked a bit. My kids did not fully understand that when I was in my office working – I was working. I love them and wanted to hear about they were doing – but not while I was working. I wanted my mother-in-law to be the security guard to my office door so I didn’t have to usher the kids in and out, briskly, because they were interrupting my flow. I wanted my mother-in-law  to put a barricade on the stairs that led to my office and also get dig out a moat so my kids’ persistence to visit me could be obstructed.

For my mother-in-law, the transition was not a cake walk, either. I don’t know if she would say it sucked but I’m sure she would come up with another “good grief, are we done, yet” sentiment. My mother-in-law wanted to support me and she knew the kids’ interruptions were putting me in a mood. She was uncertain of how to restrain my kids because she’s not in the habit of heavily policing them in the first place. She felt in limbo about her caregiving role because I was in the house – and would I be stepping up and in to field any issues – or was she still fully in charge while I was working?

With all the upheaval , we survived January and honestly, February has been easy breezy…here’s why:

1. February 1 – we had a family meeting to discuss my new job and business – in full detail.  We explained to the kids I was still doing real work even though my office was at the house. We talked about the general hours I would be working and how my work day would be even longer if they continued to pop into my office.
2. We created a “go” and “stop” sign for my office door so the kids know when they can visit me.
3. When I have business or client calls – I make sure my mother-in-law and the kids know they cannot play the drums or piano, do karaoke, swing from the rafters – or create any other extremely loud noises. I also let them know how long this quiet time needs to last.
4. I try to take my lunch break when my son and mother-in-law eat lunch so we can have some face time. This makes the rest of the afternoon interruption free because my soon has had his mommy fix.
5. When my kids offer to help me, I have age specific tasks that each of them to do. My son is great at putting stamps and labels on letters and packages. My daughter has social media savvy that impresses me and freaks me out at the same time.
6. I write little thank you notes, about 2-to-3 times a week, to my multigenerational family letting them know how they have helped me be a successful work from home mom.

We’re still transitioning to this new work environment, but we are definitely less cranky and jammed up about it. To be continued…

For those of you who work from home – what norms or understandings did you put in place to support your career and nurture your family?

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