Working from home with your small children may sound like a dream come true, but it can be an enormous challenge as well. To help make your job as a remote worker (or entrepreneur) with kids easier, here are some tips on how to successfully work from home with small children without feeling like the world is always crashing down on you.

Create a Schedule

It’s tempting to make working a priority over everything else – and I know this from experience. While flexibility is great for work-life balance, without a schedule you can end up spending too much time getting lost in your work and not enough time with your family. So, create a schedule that works for you— and make yourself stick to it. Your working hours can be literally anywhere in the day you want. Consider yourself officially promoted to the CEO of your time. As long as you are meeting deadlines, there’s no “9-5” restrictions. Just you, your family, and what works for everyone.

Plan for Surprises

When I say stick to your schedule… do so with the expectation that kids aren’t perfect. Yes, you have crafted yourself a perfect and beautiful schedule, but your children aren’t going to follow it every single day. Maybe your child is sick, maybe they have a doctor’s appointment, or maybe they just woke up cranky one day.

Hell, maybe your “thinks she’s a grown up” 2-year-old will decide to dump an entire box of oreos on the floor and unless you stop working for a moment to intervene … she WILL eat every last one. Then while you’re cleaning the oreos… she decides to pour herself a glass of milk and entirely miss the cup, and while you’re cleaning up that mess, she decides to find your nail polish stash and paint a portrait on your bed sheets.

That last part may be from personal experience. But remember, they won’t always nap right on schedule – and they won’t always sit down for a full 30 minute lunch break. Some days all plans go out the window.

On days like this, remember you can make up the hours later at night, over the weekend, or call on your little one’s favorite Disney hero or princess to step in and take over for a couple hours.

Hire Additional Help (Not Just for Kids)

It amazes me how often people tell me that “I may need to consider part time daycare.” I LOVE spending time with my kids. You know what I don’t love? Cleaning my house and doing my laundry. You don’t have to choose between your career and your family.

Consider hiring help – whether that be in the form of daycare, house cleaning, laundry, meal prep or any other task you simply don’t want to do yourself. If your argument here is “those things cost money” … friendly reminder that your typical corporate office job would require daycare and daycare is not (usually) free. I pay far less for house cleaning and meal services than I would be for daycare – and I get the added bonus of doing the things I DO love and outsourcing the things I don’t.

Take Advantage of Quiet Time

The best way to take advantage of your quiet time is to plan it in advance. Figure out when your kids nap and when they go down for the night. On the days I can tell my toddler probably won’t nap because her energy levels are through the roof, we have planned movie time instead.

During those windows, really focus in on your work. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in a couple hours of super focused time.

"Car Tasks"

If your kids nap in the car, and you’ve reached that “I’m overly tired, good luck getting me to nap today” mark… take a drive. When all else fails, I can count on a car nap. During these naps, I like to drive around until the kids are crashed and find a place with a nice view to tackle tasks on my phone. Simple things like responding to emails, drafting social media posts, researching tools, or brainstorming your next big idea.

Give the Kids Their Time

When you work from home, it’s easy to get caught up in trying to be on all day—which can lead to overload. It’s easy to get caught up in your work and forget that you have to take a break and play with your kids. They need your undivided attention… and I’ve found that it’s usually rewarded with periods of independent play and uninterrupted time for mom.

Accept that Bad Days Happen

Accept that having a bad day is normal. It will happen. Not everything will go as planned and there will be some days you have to just shut down your computer early, or take a break. You can get caught up tomorrow.

Give Yourself Grace

Being a mom is hard work! There will be days when you feel like all you’ve done is chase children, clean messes, and try to respond to the demanding needs of your boss, co-workers, or team. Remember that it’s okay to schedule some time for yourself and make your needs a priority. Don’t be so hard on yourself. At the end of the day, your work will be better when you’re not feeling like your drowning in the needs of everyone else.

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It’s true that working from home can be a challenge, but if you have a plan of action, it can be done. Just remember you will have days where you feel like nothing is going right— and that’s okay. You’ve got this, momma!