“Hey, can you watch my kids for me?” “You don’t have anything else going on, right?”
Have you ever felt like instead of running a home based-business, you run a drop-in childcare center? A few weeks ago, a friend called me to ask if I could watch her children. “Of course, I can”. I replied. (I really didn’t mind a bit…in fact, my kids could use the playmates for a day.) Okay, I take that back, I didn’t mind at first.
When we started making arrangements, she said that she needed help for ten hours. I replied, “well, I can do half of that because I am behind on a project and need to catch up”.
“Oh”, she replied. “Couldn’t you just work a little more tomorrow?” “My husband doesn’t have anymore sick-leave so I am really in a bind”.
Needless to say, her flippant attitude about my work schedule made me a little less anxious to lend a hand.
In a previous post, (Take Your Home Business Seriously, or They Won’t) I talked about how it is often difficult to get our friends and family members take our home businesses seriously. While I absolutely love taking care of my friends’ children, sometimes they simply don’t understand that I have “office hours” just like anyone else.
Imagine if I called my friend in the middle of her workday and said, “Hey, I am in a crunch, would you mind if I brought my son to your office so you can watch him while you type reports”. “I am sure you won’t have any problems getting your work done with a toddler on your lap, right”?
Maybe I am overly sensitive, but this is how it often feels when people ask for my help, but disrespect my at-home job. Just because I am home, doesn’t mean I am available to babysit someone’s children all day. I need at least a few hours to eat bon-bons and catch up on my soaps, don’t I?
I recently posed the following question on a work-at-home mom forum I visit on a regular basis; “Do you run a home business, or a drop in childcare center?” It amazed me at how many WAHMS experienced the same treatment.
What about you? Do you have any suggestions for dealing with friends and family members that don’t take your business seriously? Post them in the comments section.
Related Reading:
A Home-Biz *is* a Real Job