This post is sponsored by sponsored by GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students. However, all thoughts are my own.

One of the questions I get asked the most is : “How do you work from home and be a full time mom and accomplish anything?”  Or some variation of “How do you do it all?”

The honest answer: I don’t. 

The decision to work from home mostly full time came with many challenges. Sure – it seems like a glamorous life at times, I get to make my own schedule and get to be with my kids for their everyday moments – but it has come with its own set of HUGE challenges. 

We started out with me working from home full time right after I had our daughter June. Teddy was in half day school but I had kept him home with me all summer after June was born. It offers me a ton of flexibility – from being able to be with my kiddos most of the time, to the ease of working in my pajamas, and being able to schedule a doctor’s appointment or run that errand to the bank or other places that have narrow business hours. It was important to me that our family have the flexibility of a parent who isn’t tied to a traditional 9-5 office job. The first few months went great, especially when June was itty bitty and napping 2-3 times a day. 

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I loved that I got to experience her development and make sure that what they both were learning was what I desired and deemed valuable for them to learn. However, it became increasingly harder to have both the uninterrupted work time, and the mental capacity to balance full time motherhood with multiple part time work from home jobs. I began to hit a wall and it seemed I was behind on anything and everything in my life. I wasn’t doing anything well, just a bunch of things half-way. 

My husband and I decided that the only way we were going to be able to make this work was for us to send both of the kids to some kind of school program. That was daunting to me. My 8 month old daughter in someone else’s care? It was so nerve wrecking for me to send my little baby out into the world where she was not under the watchful eye of myself or my family. 

But I knew it needed to be done. And I knew there were some really great daycare / childcare programs out there… but how to find them?! We had recently moved to a new house and didn’t know many people to get recommendations from in the area. I found out about the Quality Rated childcare tool and it made it super easy to find several options that could be potential fits for our family. Something I really loved about their free tool is that you can even use it to search along your route to work! 

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The Quality Rated rating system helps parents identify high-quality child care in Georgia. All Quality Rated schools are independently evaluated by credentialed early childhood experts to ensure that they follow best practices. To learn more about it – and use the online tool CLICK HERE.

Teddy now goes to school for a half day program 4 days a week and June goes to a half day pre-school 2 mornings a week. They have been doing this for almost a year now, and it has been a game changer for me. 

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I do truly feel like I am able to experience the majority of their childhood development and important moments, but I am also able to get the MUCH NEEDED alone time for me to focus on my work and get in those power hours.  I am much more present now when I’m with the kids, instead of constantly running my to-do list in my head at all times. I even have more mental energy to be creative with them and simply PLAY.  aka – construct crazy cardboard box creations with Teddy 🙂 

To answer the question of “how do you do it all?” I don’t. I have help. I am so glad I found trustworthy childcare centers for both of my kiddos. I have let go of the mom-guilt and we are all happier and more productive. 

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Another tool I use is Time Blocking and Task Batching .. but that post is still a work in progress, so more to come on that later! 

If you’re lost in the maze of trying to figure out the right childcare option for your family – definitely give the Quality Rated tool a try!   I’d love to know the top things  you consider when making a child care choice. Let me know in the comments! 

Want to know if your child’s care center / school is Quality Rated? Click here to use the tool and find out!