If you work from home sometimes, how do you entertain a 4 year old so you can concentrate on your work?

[scoobysnax]

Any advice on this one from experienced work-at-homers welcome!
Anyone have any good alternatives to sticking a video on, or is this really the best method?!!

I 'work from home' one day a week. This means that I spend all day looking after DS, going out etc etc...and catch up on work in the evenings and w/e! If I HAVE to get work done on that day, I ask a friend to take him to the park. This isn't what you wanted to hear, is it?
Might be easier with a 4 year old: can you set her/him up in own little office to do important jobs with phone, pen paper etc? Keep setting her up with games, such as jigsaw...how many can she finish in half an hour without help, etc etc. But guess a video is the answer!

I've had to work from home a lot but in the evenings when DD (2.9y) comes back from school. TBH I tend to let her decide what she wants to do, some days she is so knackered it's easier just to plug her into the TV, other times she will happily "write" or "do important work" on the floor next to me. Is your workspace close to where your son plays? Another popular option is for me to get DD "set up" in some game and then she carries on playing doctors or whatever within earshot.

I can't do it with a 2year old. I do the same as Blu. if I need to work out of nursery hours, I can make the odd phone call etc as long as nobody expects me to be in an office! For anything more sustained, I get my mum round if poss to help out. If I desperately need to do something briefly and nobody can help me then Cbeebies or Peter Pan come to the rescue. However, IMO it is no more practical to work from home with young children about than it is to talk them into any other workplace.

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agree with aloha. i work from home 3 days and DS goes to nursery for those days. I do get work related calls on the other days and sometimes take them and sometimes let it go to voicemail and then call them back.

There is absolutely no way I could work properly with him at home. (he's 2 btw)

I work partly from home and occasionally have my nearly 4yo dd with me. She's very self-contained and will draw, do a jigsaw, look at photo albums etc. for quite a while on the floor of my office so long as I don't completely ignore her. I've learned to expect regular interruptions, and also insert a few myself (pause for milk/coffee and biscuits, lunchtime walk to the post office etc) but sometimes she decides I'm just too boring and goes off to find her toys for a bit. She's recently got much better at entertaining herself but I definitely couldn't do it full time so she's usually at nursery, and practically everyone I deal with regularly on the phone knows I have kids, which helps.
So it can be done, just not every day!

I pay large amounts of money for childcare (not what you wanted to hear, I know!)

Not working from home strictly speaking, but one sort of emergency solution is to take your 4 year old to an indoor soft play play centre, position yourself near the exit, check security etc so you can be sure your child can't run off, then let them loose in the ball pit. I find I can get a good two hours or so of work in while I sit in the parents area - but I have to break every 10 minutes to checking up on things. When I've had freelance work deadlines to meet this is what I do. I usually see quite a few other parents working like this, too. Then if you are really lucky, your run ragged child will fall asleep on the way home and you can put them to bed for the night (go to a play centre late in the afternoon for this to happen, of course). Failing that, after a two hour play session your 4 year old they should be tired enough to want to slump in front of a video for another hour on your return, giving you a grand total of three hours to get on with your work.

Not working from home strictly speaking, but one sort of emergency solution is to take your 4 year old to an indoor soft play play centre, position yourself near the exit, check security etc so you can be sure your child can't run off, then let them loose in the ball pit. I find I can get a good two hours or so of work in while I sit in the parents area - but I have to break every 10 minutes to checking up on things. When I've had freelance work deadlines to meet this is what I do. I usually see quite a few other parents working like this, too. Then if you are really lucky, your run ragged child will fall asleep on the way home and you can put them to bed for the night (go to a play centre late in the afternoon for this to happen, of course). Failing that, after a two hour play session your 4 year old should be tired enough to want to slump in front of a video for another hour on your return, giving you a grand total of three hours to get on with your work.

Not working from home strictly speaking, but one sort of emergency solution is to take your 4 year old to an indoor soft play play centre, position yourself near the exit, check security etc so you can be sure your child can't run off, then let them loose in the ball pit. I find I can get a good two hours or so of work in while I sit in the parents area - but I have to break every 10 minutes to checking up on things. When I've had freelance work deadlines to meet this is what I do. I usually see quite a few other parents working like this, too. Then if you are really lucky, your run ragged child will fall asleep on the way home and you can put them to bed for the night (go to a play centre late in the afternoon for this to happen, of course). Failing that, after a two hour play session your 4 year old should be tired enough to want to slump in front of a video for another hour on your return, giving you a grand total of three hours to get on with your work.

oops!

Soundz not the ideal solution but favourite Videos work. Barbie's and the whole barbie imaginary play. Else if nothing works take her out to a park for an hour, sure would be more relaxed and settled upon return. I tend to catch up with my work in the evenings when DH returns. Making phone calls during the day I find is quite a juggle.

Top tip tigermoth - but word of warning. Do not make the mistake of making calls to clients/employers from these places! I did this completely oblivious to just how great the background noise level was. A few weeks later I called the play venue to check opening hours and found myself straining to hear the lady at the other end, over the sound of screaming kids. Mmm very professional.

been there, done that, felt the embarassment and said never again to that, too!

Videos/cbeebies is the only way that works for my dd (3.5 years), and that's only good cos she's in her first term of full time school so is exhausted by 3pm, then I plonk her in front of the TV with a pile of food and drink. It works for an hour or two though. More if they're ill.

Other than that, I'd agree with the others, paid childare is the only way to get much work done. If dd had more energy I'd send her to the after school club but she's happier for now chilling out on the sofa.

Again, not what you wanted to hear, but sometimes I have to work from home because I have got things to do in the evening or at the weekend. If it involves concentrating, rather than just skim reading, then the only thing which works is to run around with ds and play hard, and then put him to bed early, drink coffee, and spend all night working when it is quiet. Unfortunately the only other option with a 4-year-old seems to be to cry and say what big trouble Mummy will be in if she does not get this work done and persuade him to play quietly / read a book for a while.