Sarah Mason's Profile

A few thoughts on this article:

I'll concede that the photo could be perceived as misleading but like KFair said, it's just an image from a House Tour, not of the author herself. The photo itself is not a big deal.

The author -- Sarah Robbins -- is sharing her own experience in hopes of helping others. Nowhere in the article does she say this is how everyone should do things when working from home with kids. I think that's important to remember when reading it (and then offering your own opinion).

The article could have used some more context -- what the author does for a living, for instance, would have helped to frame the conversation. If you click on Sarah's AT contributor profile, you can follow a link to her site -- she's a photographer and editorial writer, a job which I'm sure allows her flexibility in getting things done.

I can appreciate other commenters' frustration with trying to work full-time jobs from home with kids, without daycare or in-home help. From experience, that's a pretty unsuccessful scenario (at least generally speaking), unless -- as others said -- you can give up sleep.

BUT -- like the author pointed out in the first paragraph -- technology has enabled people to work from home AND make a decent living. If you're a photographer, writer, designer, consultant, BLOGGER (people are foolish to discount blogging as a way to earn income, whether directly or indirectly), you can make this work, at least on a part-time basis while your kids are little.

If you are telecommuting or working for an outside employer (especially an established company), then working with kids tugging at your sleeve all day or babies screaming is not productive.

So, within that context, I think the article is great. As a work-from-home Mom of a 22 mos. old (making a part-time income as a consultant and designer), I can relate to -- and appreciate -- Sarah's comments.

I do take advantage of nap time to get things done that require a lot of mental focus. Having worked in the corporate office environment for over a decade before having kids, I can honestly say that I often get more done undistracted in that block of time than I did during many 8-10 hour days in an office where I was constantly distracted by conference calls and pointless meetings and office chit chat.

I also try to get things done while my toddler is awake. It's impossible to do a lot of housework but I focus on what I CAN do -- folding laundry, dusting, wiping down counters, etc. Every little bit helps.

And I try to get up an hour or two before he does every day to get at least one big thing accomplished. That way I feel good about getting my day started right before he wakes up.

Great article -- thanks for writing it!