anyone else work from home with middling age kids (5-10). How do you get round the guilt and the TV?

[hatwoman]

dds are 6 and 8. it doesn;t happen that often but is in the nature of my work and the difficulty of scheduling it. does anyone have heroic ideas about keeping a 6 and 8 year old healthily and happily entertained while you work?

[Fennel]

I sometimes do with 8yo, 6yo and 4yo but I find it really stressful. I do tend to shove them in front of a long video. It's the only way they will reliably not come and ask me random things every few minutes. And I can't work with too frequent interruptions, I lose too much concentration.

I would rather pay for childcare usually, especially as I don't want them watching too much tv. At least then they tend to be active and outdoors a lot.

[hatwoman]

really difficult to pay for childcare at the moment - don;t know one week to the next which day we need it. it's proving a bit of a nightmare

[Fennel]

In that case I try and work evenings when dc are in bed, does that work for you?

In the end, if you have to work, and can't arrange or pay for childcare easily, then I would just use the TV and not feel guilty.

I also try and swap childcare with friends. but that's harder with 3 of them.

[Takver]

Do you have a DP who can take turns so that you can work when he is 'on duty'? Alternatively can you arrange some sort of swap with a friend - have their children for a morning then they have yours for an afternoon?
DH & I work from home, I generally find that if I assume that I won't be able to do any (paid) work while caring for DD, and just make the most of any opportunities that I do get, thinks work out a lot less stressful than if I expect to be able to work and it doesn't happen!
In cases when I have to (like this week as DH is out haymaking) I generally try to involve DD in the work, helping to pack orders etc, but of course that depends what sort of work you do - not so easy if you are a solicitor . . .

[stallfinder]

Hi,
Mine are 10, 8 and 5. I work from home running a website. I usually try and work mainly when they're at school or in bed but it's harder now during the holidays. They've watched a few DVD's so far and I managed to get a bit of work done but we've also had trips out so I don't feel guilty as they don't watch that much TV. They're usually happy playing if I'm busy and don't interrupt too much, they're pretty well trained as their Dad's worked from home regularly since they were born.