How to fit in 2 hours freelance work a day

[newtofreelance]

Hi All!
I am new to all of this and have secured 2 hours work a day I can do from home (admin work from a friend that involves emails and telephone calls so needs to be done in office hours). I have a 2 year old with a normal kind of todder routine. E.g. up at 7am, no nap anymore but a 1 hour quiet time after lunch, and bed at 7pm. How can I fit 2 hours freelance work in a day to my routine without childcare? I know some people will say it can't be done, but I my DD is very laid back. I won't need to fit in much housework a day as we live in a small flat that seems to keep clean without doing much so hopefully that is a bonus.

Thanks in advance

I'd do one hour during her quiet time, when you can tell her that mummy is working, and the other after bedtime.

I can't do after bedtime as it has to be done in office hours (it is all phonecalls and emails). Do you think 2 hours of quiet time would be too much?

Well done on securing the work.

You know your child best, I guess the main question is will your DC happily watch TV for 2 hours during the day? And will they do that without interuptting you. You might find that whilst they'll happily sit for an hour whilst you are pottering, but as soon as they realise your attention is on the PC they leave the TV and come hassling. This may get worse the older they get. I talk from experience here!

If they do interupt, what was an hour in the am, could be drawn out over 3 hours etc. You will need to time your time to ensure that you charge your client what you do.

And calls with a little voice in the background isn't ideal and I guess not what your client is expecting.

There are people on here who manage to work without childcare but I believe that is because they mainly work/top up in the evening.

Is there no way you can do the work when your DC is in bed or you have cover?

I can see the appeal of doing work and staying at home, but I think it sounds really stressful. Sorry.

Hope you work out a way.

That's tricky. Two hours quiet time is too much I think - my kids would never leave me alone for that long.

I would get up, have breakfast, play with dd. Then stick on the tv for 30 minutes at 9am and work - obviously you could get a full hour in if dd was happy to amuse herself for that length of time. Then go out and do something physically active; come back and do 1 hour at the quiet time (again you might be able to stretch it a bit). Then do something at home like baking or sticking etc, or go to the local shop, or play in the garden if you have one. Then give her a few nice snacks in front of tv for another half an hour around 4 if you still need to make up the time.

My kids do better in front of the tv if they have a snack pot - like cucumber and breadsticks and fruit bars - plus a drink but food might not work with a toddler because of the choking risk.

The other way of doing it is to find another mum who will come over with her child and amuse the two of them for an hour while you work. You could reciprocate by having her child for the odd day, or babysitting etc.

Nothing is easy when you combine work and childcare - it's bound to be really difficult sometimes - especially if your dd is ill - but maintaining some kind of work pays off in the long run.

I would do an hour after breakfast and an hour at quiet time

Breakfast finished by 8am, would toddler play with toys quietly until 9am? I know toddler prob would here. Then you have time 9-1 to go out and do something with her ' praise for playing so nicely whilst mummy had important work'.
Ideally the morning out will wear her out and you can come back, have lunch together, then pop her down for 'quiet time' whatever you do with that.
Work 2nd hour during quiet time.

Emails etc can be drafted the eve before if you know about them ready for the morning if needed.

Thanks for the good suggestions. I do not start until next week so I had a practice today. She managed to do a 1 hour and 45 minutes of quiet time and then got fed up. So maybe 2 hours could be doable but if not I really like the suggestion of an hour at 9am, and then an hour at quiet time. I am quite excited to start now. She starts pre-school next year for 3 hours a day so I want to take the job now as it will fit in perfectly ones she starts pre-school. Thanks again, hopefully next week will go well!