Now that flu & cold season are upon us, how do you handle working from home when you have sick children home, too?

I turn the "Do Not Disturb" button on, on the phone and watch for any caller ID's that come up. I have it showing on my t.v. In addition, when any client calls/emails me, I preface the call by letting them know ahead of time that I have sick children at home so if I am slower than usual to respond, that is why.

As for my kids...I make sure they are all set up in their rooms with everything they need and check up on them periodically. They also like the grilled cheese and tomato soup lunch so I ALWAYS make sure to take a break from work to whip up some lunch for them.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it - we're not at the school age. Nou, who is now 20 months, is *always* home with me We make it work, I have gotten pretty good at getting tons of work done in the a.m. when she is having breakfast and during naptime.

Like Jen, I will let a client know ahead of time if I have Nou around during a call - most of the time my husband is able to distract her in another room for just long enough though.

For me, there's basically no difference from a client perspective. I always have an oddball work schedule, and I always communicate primarily by email. Like Tess, I get the majority of my work done either very early or very late in the day, when the kids are sleeping. So those would-be daytime sick-and-needy hours are the same hours I don't work normally.

I would guess that for kids that are usually not home during the day, their ages would make a big difference in how you adjust your schedule. You might have to set aside a lot of extra time for a kindergartener who's feeling yucky and clingy and wants MOMMY, but a tween might just want to be left alone to sleep it off. Know what I mean?