By Harry Loney.
Working at home with a toddler: an explanation as to why someone would think THAT’S a good idea.
As a freelance writer parent, I find myself working at home with a toddler every day. Now basically, against all the odds, this is brilliant. I’ve said goodbye to the morning rush hour. Cheerio to Monday morning blues and a big “f*** off” to office politics. I get to do the work that I’m good at. The work that I like. And if I don’t want to do something I don’t do it.
Of course, finding the freelance writing work is another matter. Turning down work means I don’t get paid and so can’t afford this month’s Celebratory Bag of Jelly Babies. But that’s another post entirely.
What’s much more interesting is why I finally went freelance. Why did I go from a nicely paid comfy communications role with a healthy bank balance to an actually quite stressy, work all hours of the day life?
Cash Rich, Time Poor
Well that’s easy to answer. It was time. Time with my baby son (and with Clever Wifey, but she’s probably sick of seeing my face float around the house by now). I realised that if I’m in an office all day, I’m going to miss the best bits about being a dad.
I’ll probably miss The Boy’s first steps and his first smile. I won’t be able to go to all the parent and child classes I’d like to. One day I was pondering all this with a glum look on my face, trying to just accept my fate as an office monkey. But then the realisation hit me like a Hey Duggee DVD to the nuts.
What will I regret more on my deathbed? missing my fortnightly catchup with Nigel from Accounts, or missing The Boy say his first “Dada”?
And there it was. That was all the motivation I needed to strike out on my own and try to make a career which balanced writing from home in the morning and pretending to be the Gruffalo at lunchtime. I was lucky in that I had developed writing as a skill which I could do anywhere that had a computer and the internet. It wouldn’t have been as easy if I had spent my career perfecting football pitch maintenance. So I’m glad about that. But I had the skills, I knew some people that could give me a start, and off I went into the darkest corner of working life – freelancing.
Co-Parenting at Home
Now, it also helped that Clever Wifey was already a full-time work-from-homer with her dog photography business which meant there was already a routine for taking care of The Boy. We could tag-team, meaning when one of us had a lot of work on, the other would focus on The Boy. If we were both in a good place and time to spare, we could all go off somewhere nice on a Tuesday morning day-trip with no crowds to worry about. Life became an awful lot more flexible and – dare I say it – fun. I’d found out how to find more time with family, and it is brilliant.
Being a freelance stay at home co-parenting Dad and working at home with a toddler brings its challenges, but the rewards are more than worth it for me. I might be cash poor; time rich, but that’s all the wealth I need. If you’re thinking about becoming freelance and spending more time with your kids, drop us a comment and let’s chat!