Errands

[Kellybelly83]

I do take my Dayhome kids on outings, and I have it in my contract for liability purposes. The way I determine if I feel OK with the outing, is I think if the kids will truly enjoy whatever it is. My Dayhome kids love to go to the grocery store. But I never do it for a big shop, because then it's boring for them. I am open for 10 hours a day and half of the groceries I buy are for the Dayhome, so I feel ok buying Dayhome groceries or craft supplies at the dollar store etc, on work time. I do my own personal gorcery shopping on the weekends usually. I have taken the kids to the post office for my own personal postal needs, but only because the kids really like to go. I would not go to the dentist for 2 hours and have them wait though lol. Although I might go for a check up, just so they could see how painless a trip to the dentist is haha!

As for cleaning my house, yes, I do it during the day if I can. I also start dinner when the kids are here. That to me is a bonus of working from home. I only do these things when the kids are set up with an activity where they don't need me. I have mostly older kids so there is no nap time anymore, so when it's "quiet activity time" I get a few things done.

So I'm kind of on both sides of this coin. I'd feel guilty if I took the kids on errands frequently , and they didn't really have fun. But I do take them places and most of the parents see that as a bonus, because I have a large vehicle and the patience to take them out haha. Come September I'll only have 1 four year old all morning until noon. I plan on buying a pass for her for the rec centre so we can go with a friend a couple times a week, but honestly she'd be over the moon if we went to the bank , or staples etc! She LOVES " helping" and "jobs" and being a "mommy" lol so I can see us doing a lot of errands, if only to keep her happy and busy! I take my job seriously and I put the focus on the kids, but I'd be lying if I didn't try and maximize my time by doing some of my own personal stuff during the day, when I feel it's appropriate to do so. I took the kids to 5 different parks this week, but I also did my laundry after we got home and they were tired haha... It's all about balance to me.