Even before a parent has a child, they usually feel like they have two choices: become a stay-at-home mom or dad, or a working mom or dad. Stay-at-home parents devote their blood, sweat and tears to the nearly constant supervision and education of their child. Working parents often have an outside-the-home job and need to find childcare, either through family members, nannies or daycare.
There are challenges and rewards faced by both types of parents, each having to sacrifice something that the other has. But they often forget about a third option: working from home.
Though parents have been making this work for decades, the rise of the internet has brought popularity to the idea of working from home. Parents can care for their kids at least part of the time, while using downtime to work on their business, and be ready to pop back into mom or dad mode when the need arises.
Continuing a Professional Trajectory
An unfortunate reality for many parents is having trouble getting back into a career field after leaving to raise children.
Moms or dads can stay current in the working world by keeping professional networks, learning new softwares and technologies, and keeping up with their favorite job aspects by working from home.
Feeling Accomplished
Sometimes it feels like parenting tasks never end. Working from home lets moms or dads work at their own pace, so they can make sure they completely tend to their child’s needs before starting the next work project.
Something else parents miss out on when they leave the workplace is the element of praise. It’s not like your infant will be giving you stellar performance reviews, no matter how great of a job you’re doing. A work-from-home arrangement allows a parent to experience positive feedback from a professional network without having to leave the house.
Contributing to Household Income While Cutting Childcare Expenses
While parents who work from home still take advantage of childcare, school, or activities to work, they generally don’t need to pay for as many hours of childcare as a family with traditional working parents.
Not only are they saving money this way, they are actively contributing to family income. A little extra money is helpful when children are young, and saving some of that additional income can help with expenses down the road.
Time with Children When They Want Parental Time the Most
We don’t know any moms or dads who are thrilled to have sacrificed time with their children to meet the demands of a traditional 9-5 job. During crucial times in a child’s development, work-from-home parents can scale down their workloads to make room for playtime and bonding. Once the children are a little older and more independent, parents can choose to scale up their business ventures to increase income.
Ability to be Present for the ‘Big Moments’
Parents can’t help it: they want to be present for first steps, first words, and all the other exciting firsts a child experiences. Most parents do get to experience these milestones, but working from home practically guarantees that they will be.
Still Getting Breaks that Refresh a Parent’s Patience
We’re all a little better at taking care of children when we get the breaks needed to restore our patience. Parents who spend part of the day working on their businesses and part focusing on their children, give each part of their brain enough rest to perform at its best. Taking a break from work can make them more productive, and taking a break from childcare can make them more patient.
A great example of the kind of work that fits well into a work-from-home parent’s life is becoming a Viv Life Consultant. Viv works to make being a consultant fun and rewarding while keeping it extremely flexible, so that moms and dads can work when they have a sitter, when the babies are napping, or when their children are at band practice.
Viv Life Consultants use a personalized website platform to sell products that not only enhance people’s lives but provide them with real value, like AutoPilot, an energy supplier management tool, or CloudCache, a secure web-based data storage and sharing service. The necessary training can be done at a work-from-home parent’s needed pace, all online.
Moms or dads who are enjoying their Viv Life Consultant work can then share it with their friends and their local parent groups. They can build on their successes by building their own consulting teams. These groups become lifelong professional networks that share common goals.
The work of parenthood itself is incredibly important, but moms and dads who enjoy working deserve the perfect balance of caregiving and earned income from purpose-driven work. Are you ready to take the next step to become a work-from-home parent, where you can care for your child, while also engaging in meaningful work? Contact us to learn more about becoming a Viv Life Consultant and how it can be the answer to the age old “career or care-giver” dilemma.