Intro |
Be AT HOME |
Expand Your New Job Knowledge |
Establish a New Weekly Routine |
Set a New Daily Schedule |
Manage Your Children |
Become a Household Manager |
Overcome Resistance |
Create a Safe Haven |
Stay Motivated |
Down the Road
Intro
Welcome Home! The question is, “Now What?”
You have now left your outside employment and are embarking
on a new home-based lifestyle. Congratulations! However, your
work is not finished. In fact, it’s just beginning. You
will need to be prepared for the transition that is now facing
you. You’ll want to take it slow, relax and enjoy this
phase of your life. This section will help prepare you for the
new challenges to a home-based lifestyle. You’ll learn
how to take things one step at a time, manage your new-found
freedom, tackle your children’s time-management needs
and handle all objections and obstacles along the way. You’ll
create a safe haven at home and will become a professional home
manager. By the end of this section, you will revel in the fact
that you have truly found your way home.
Back to the top
Be AT HOME!
Whew! You did it! You put together the courage
and massive effort required to extricate yourself from a corporate
career, a demanding job, a nonsupportive spouse or even your
own fear to arrive at this point. Home! You have
found your way home. The question is: Now what? At
this point you may find yourself in a panic over what to do
next. The transition from a rushed and stressed existence
to a seemingly endless home-based day can be overwhelming. Having
so much new-found freedom will take some getting used to. Feelings
of panic and depression over what you have given up may surface.
In this section you will learn to overcome these feelings. You
will learn how to appreciate the amazing accomplishment you
have achieved by observing the positive changes happening in
your family. You will use your journal to capture these important
moments. You will learn to allow yourself to relax and
simply be at home – for the time being. Later, you will
tackle tougher issues. Discussed in this section is the fact
that your new lifestyle is really like starting a new career.
As in starting any new job, this too will take time and effort
in order to become proficient.
Back to the top
Expand Your New Job Knowledge
In this section, you will begin to understand the mechanics
of a home-based lifestyle. You will begin to evaluate
your own strengths and weaknesses in setting up this new career. On-the-job
training is discussed. Methods of research are presented in
order for you to become more proficient in areas of need. This
will be your “training time.” You will learn not
to be too hard on yourself and how to let others know that you
are still figuring out how to best implement this new lifestyle.
One of the most important factors in this section will be understanding
how to set your priorities for your new home-centered life.
You will build your confidence in this section through methods
such as on-line research, networking and utilizing support groups.You
will be able to finally ease into your new lifestyle with grace
and confidence.
Back to the top
Establish a New Weekly Routine
The goal for this section is to restructure some of your time
so that you are not floundering around the house wondering what
to do next. Options discussed include setting up weekly outings
on a regular basis with your priorities in mind. You will build
meaningful activities back into your schedule that fit squarely
with your priorities for yourself, your children and your family.
Many options and choices exist for these outings and are presented
in this section. Finally, you will be advised on how to avoid
overbooking too quickly and filling up all of your new free
time. This is a common situation for busy working parents, used
to overdoing things. It will take effort to carefully balance
your need to get out of the house, continue to feel like a contributing
adult and to fill the needs of your family, but it is a worthwhile
endeavor!
Back to the top
Set a New Daily Schedule
As in the previous section, it will be important to consciously
set priorities at home and restructure daily routines for your
family. You don’t have to have a spotless house, a month’s
worth of frozen meals packed away in the freezer, well-behaved,
home-schooled kids and a thriving home-based business overnight. You
do need to select your priorities and begin working on them
one by one, with the help of a structured routine. You
will learn how to use “blocks” of time for a new
daily schedule. This method will allow you to tackle your home-based
projects and will help your children adjust to new routines
at home. You will learn how to keep some time strictly for yourself
and finally, how to remain flexible. After all, one of the best
benefits of a home-based lifestyle is having the freedom to
choose activities that bring joy and happiness to you and your
family.
Back to the top
Manage Your Children
After transitioning home, you may be bewildered to find that
you have little skill in handling your own children’s
scheduling and disciplinary needs. Let’s face it: you
have probably never been in charge of one-hundred percent of
your children’s time before, and you may find it overwhelming
now. Like many busy parents, you may not have had the time or
the patience to research and implement appropriate and effective
methods of discipline. This section will teach you how to handle
your children in joyful and positive ways. Methods of positive
parenting and self-discipline are explained. The author’s
own “chart” system of positive reinforcement and
rewards is included. This system offers a rewards-based plan
which helps children learn to cooperate and develop patterns
of good behavior, which will become habit over time. Tackling
these problems one at a time will help the entire family enjoy
each other and being at home together. You will all begin to
appreciate the wonderful gift you have been given: time
together.
Back to the top
Become a Household Manager
Becoming a household manager involves several important steps. This
strategy is purposely left until later in your transitional
process. A higher priority for your early days at home
was to relax, adjust and enjoy some of the wonderful benefits
of having a parent at home. Now, it is time to tackle
some of the tougher issues. In this section you will begin to
put your new budget plans to work and implement the new frugality
of your family. You will learn how to ease into this new
style of life. Once your family has adjusted to a new level
of income (and they will), the next step is planning for saving
and investing. You will now have time to research these
important areas and set your family up for a secure financial
future. Just because you may feel strapped for cash now, and
can’t do any extraneous spending, does not mean that you
can never drive a new car or have the latest gadgets. You will
learn that with some frugal discipline in your current spending,
and establishment of savings fundamentals, you will be able
to afford luxuries again in the future. Another area discussed
is how to put your affairs in order by taking a home inventory,
updating your insurance, and having a will and power of attorney
drawn up. By the end of this powerful section, you will be well
on your way to excellence in home management.
Back to the top
Overcome Resistance
Resistance to your new lifestyle may come from some surprising
places. Persons who previously may have been supportive,
such as spouse, family and friends, may all of sudden begin
questioning your decisions. Some people may now offer unwanted
opinions and beliefs that you are making a mistake. Resistance
to change in life is a normal reaction by many people. In this
section you will learn how to deal gracefully and effectively
when encountering this resistance. You will learn how to remain
patient and calmly continue to carry out your goals. Together
with your spouse, you will begin to respect each other’s
equally important contributions to your family life. You will
gain a clear picture of your monetary value as a stay-at-home
parent with a look at actual dollar figures from the U.S. Department
of Labor Statistics. You will learn how to allow your peace,
contentment and family happiness shine through to naturally
allay the misgivings of others.
Back to the top
Create a Safe Haven
This is it! Creating a safe haven (an anchorage, a port,
a sanctuary and a refuge) at home for the whole family is the
goal for your entire transitioning process. This is the culmination
of all of your hard work. In this section you will learn why
a safe haven is so very important in today’s constantly
on-the-go society. This section discusses how a safe haven begins
with a parent at home to anchor the storms of life that will
inevitably pass through the family. A safe haven brings
elevated confidence to children of all ages. A safe haven
isn’t just for the children, either. It also provides
peace, comfort and security to the parents as well.
Back to the top
Stay Motivated
In this section you will learn how to overcome any lingering
insecurities about your new lifestyle. You will learn how to
maintain your job skills while at home, if you feel that you
would one day like to go back to your career. If you want to
remain at home for the foreseeable future, you will learn how
to reaffirm and recommit to your chosen at-home lifestyle. An
important issue in staying home is how to present yourself to
others when the dreaded “do” question is asked (And,
what do you do?). You will learn how to
design a confident, personalized answer to this question that
truly reflects your priorities in life. Finally, in this section,
you will learn how to maintain your self-respect and have faith
in yourself.
Back to the top
Down the Road
Whether to remain at home, or return to some type of paid work
outside the house is a decision you will think about in this
section. Specific steps for these options are outlined to help
you consider your choices. The importance of maintaining a skills
inventory while at home is discussed, along with how to detail
these skills in a personal resume, should you wish to apply
for work down the road. Remaining at home is certainly
a viable option as well, even as the children get older. A
deeper commitment and appreciation of the at-home lifestyle
is discussed.
Back to the top
|
