Be a No-Drama Work at Home Mama
Be a No-Drama Work at Home Mama
Expectation of being a WAHM: You stay on top of your career while being present for your little one’s fleeting, formative years.
Reality: It takes 45 minutes to respond to an e-mail because of the endless demands for snacks, diapers, “Can I play with your phone?”, “Come wipe me,” and just, “Mom,” on repeat. The laundry pile looms behind you like the villain in a horror film (just smother me already) while your feral children’s toys multiply and spread through the house until it’s Jumanji. Seriously, who wet the gremlin?
You need help. You became a WAHM to get away from drama and to be the mom you always wanted to be, so what do you do? You get the tools and implement the strategies that puts your sanity first, that ensures your children are still being nurtured and are forming secure attachments, because you all deserve a peaceful, productive workday.
What Does It Mean to Be a No-Drama Work at Home Mama?
First, no drama doesn’t mean there won’t be tears (usually yours) or moments of stress and frustration, but it means that for the most part…you get things done and you feel good about your interactions with your child or children throughout the shared workday.
Schedule Your Day, Save Your Sanity
One way to have a no-drama day as a WAHM is to have a schedule. Children thrive on routine, and when they feel regulated, they feel more secure. Secure children need less reassurance, which means that you experience fewer disruptions allowing you to be more efficient and less stressed.
Regardless of how you plan your day, an essential feature needs to be playtime with your child. Add one or two fifteen-minute breaks into your day to play or read a story to your child. When you give your child your full attention, they feel seen and are less inclined to demand your attention while you’re working.
Minimize Disruption by Adding a Special Seat for Your Coworkers
Speaking of demanding attention…have you ever noticed that when you’re on a tight deadline or your workload is bigger than the laundry pile that your precious spawn becomes the neediest? You’re sitting in front of the computer. The eruption of cortisol in your brain is rivaled only by that time Mt. Vesuvius smothered Pompeii as you stare at your wailing child who is somehow covered in Nutella (for the love of God, be Nutella) and wonder, “Why are you doing this to me now?”
As it turns out, your child isn’t trying to sabotage your career. Kids naturally crave their parents’ attention, so when you seem to be focusing on them least by being busy or getting on the phone (never get on the phone…it’s a trap), they become shrill biting, screaming, pinching, peeing fireballs of LOOK AT ME! Thankfully, this is a perfectly natural and healthy part of their growing security and attachment, which is why the Chicco 360 Hook-on Chair is every WAHM’s life saver.
· The chair allows your child to be near you, so they feel that security and attachment while giving you the space you need to get things done.
· The chair securely latches onto the edge of any desk or table and supports children up to 37 pounds.
· The washable, padded bucket seat rotates 360 degrees and locks in six different positions.
· The chair’s snap-on serving tray allows you to feed your little one snacks and meals without interrupting your workflow.
It’s the mom-hack every WAHM has been waiting for because your baby gets to feel physical closeness essential for secure bonding while playing with Harvard-approved developmental toys, gumming Cheerios, and watching PBS Kids.
Oh, another feature to love is that the chair can easily be unhooked, folded, and toted. This level of portability is as exciting as a dress with pockets. Seriously.
Get Outdoors and Exercise
Whether it’s first thing in the morning, at snack time, or just after lunch, a little fresh air does you and baby, too, serious good. Put your little one in the stroller and go for a walk or a jog. Give your kid a book or a snack (or both) and catch up on your favorite Podcasts while you boost circulation and release endorphins. It helps to invest in a car seat that snaps right into your stroller, so you’re not wasting time lugging equipment around. Little time-savers like this yield big gains in the long run.
Invest in Gear That Adapts to Your Child’s Growth: One Less Thing to Update!
Speaking of strollers and gear in general, nothing saves WAHM’s more time and money than those one-and-done options like the crib that morphs into a toddler and then a preschooler bed or the highchair that turns into a booster seat. To not have to shell out an extra mortgage payment in child gear every time your child hits a new developmental stage (such as learning to feed themselves or to walk or to lock you out of your phone for 36,000 hours) is the epitome of no-drama goals.
This is why the Fit4 4-in-1 car seat is the car seat we’ve been waiting for. It grows with your child from day one to year ten. It’s the infant seat, the toddler seat, the preschooler five-point-harness booster, and the big kid booster all in one, which means you don’t have to suffer the ritual of buying a new car seat every few years and learning a new system.
As one of the highest-rated brands for car seat safety, this is as much of a money saver as it is a time and effort saver (high fives self). Imagine, only having to buy and learn how to use one car seat (WAHM’s everywhere: “That’s right…talk convenient to me.”).
After all, learning to use the car seat is almost as technical as is figuring out which one is best to buy ,which is why The Car Seat Blog and Chicco’s Child Passenger Safety Technicians are hosting a free Chicco “Log-On for Car Seat Safety” Livestream on Facebook this Monday, September 21 at 12:30 PM EST.
During the event, the experts will share essential car seat safety tips about safe car seat installation and safe car seat transitions (useful for any parent and any car seat) and answering questions. Not only this, but they’re giving away two Chicco car seats during the event (free and informative? Um, add to Google calendar). Seriously, in the era of COVID-19 where we are interacting less and less, it’s great to have time to engage with other adults about something that’s vitally important. Your questions will be answered live during the event, which is great because what WAHM doesn’t need a little more adult interaction?
Being a WAHM is great, but it isn’t all cupcakes and rainbows; however, it’s possible to make the experience easier by gathering the knowledge, tools, and resources needed to get the job done…whether that’s the job you’re paid for or the job of being a mom. As a WAHM-run business, The Storyteller Agency gets it and is happy to share tips and life hacks to take the drama out of your day.
Amy Delcambre
Amy is a creative nonfiction writer and editor with over a decade of professional writing and editing experience in technical writing, content marketing, travel writing, memoir and creative nonfiction essay writing, and contemporary fiction. She has worked for multiple companies including The Storyteller Agency, Vertical Measures, Compass Media, and Madden Media to name a few. Amy’s writing has been published on countless websites and in various collections.
Amy serves as co-president for the Mobile Writers Guild and as a member-at-large for the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA). Amy is also a member of the Authors Guild, the ACES: The Society for Editing, and the Alabama Writers’ Conclave. In addition to her writing activities Amy is a part-time professor of English for the University of South Alabama and for the University of Phoenix Online. She routinely teaches courses in literature, composition, writing for social media, fiction writing, and creative nonfiction. Amy holds a Master’s in creative writing from the University of South Alabama and in publishing from George Washington University.
Amy is a work-at-home widowed mom of three young daughters and one angel son. Much of Amy’s writing revolves around the chaos, confusion, and crocodile tears of navigating work and child-rearing as a solo act; however, Amy remains eternally optimistic about life and the beauty of this world as she processes her grief and helps her daughters navigate theirs.
When she isn’t writing, Amy is an avid outdoor fitness enthusiast. She loves running, biking, swimming, and kayaking and engages in at least one of those activities every day. Amy is also a passionate home cook and culinary gardener. Like most writers, Amy is a reader who gets her literary fix on the fly through audiobooks, which she listens to while cooking, cleaning, exercising, folding endless piles of laundry...whatever it takes. Like most work-at-home moms, Amy is trying to strike the right balance between slowing down and taking it easy, and “having it all”. The results are entertaining if nothing else.
Read more of Amy’s writing at:
Her personal website, www.amydelcambre.ink
Her website dedicated to processing losing her son: www.letterstojude.com
Her editing website, www.creativeeditingservices.com
Follow Amy on Facebook @amysdwriter and @creativeeditingservices and @travelingwithstories.
Follow Amy on Instagram @amy.s.d_writer and @travelingwithstories and @creativeeditingservices
