It’s 5:30 p.m. and your boss calls a meeting.  A client emergency requires all hands on deck. With your husband out of town you panic: Who will pick up your son from school? Be prepared.

Have a plan B
Even with a local college student on call, you may need backup for your backup (she’s got a date tonight). Keep the numbers of people you can call in an emergency in your cell phone: another parent from your son’s child care or school, a friend down the block, your housekeeper. Be sure to do favors for other moms so that you have some goodwill to tap in emergencies.

Prep your kids
Let them know that you may have to work late some evenings. “Discuss their handling things at home on their own and safely, based on age and maturity,” suggests Gahr mann. If, say, your tween or teen is allowed to be home alone, set rules about oven use, locking doors, TV and homework. Ask a neighbor to drop in on them and notify you if any trouble arises. They’re more likely to behave if they know they will be checked up on.

Try negotiating
Sometimes a lastminute demand can actually wait. Ask your manager if you can work on the report
from home that night or table it until tomorrow a.m. Your boss’s must-do may not turn out to be the emergency she first thought it was.