Strategies For Blogging With the Noisy Kids Around All Day

The getting your work done and caring for the kids juggling act

Those who work the 9 to 5 job, don't have any earthly idea how difficult is to earn a living from home with 2 small children to tend to all day long.

Understand one obvious thing

Kids are to a point, high maintenance noisy little buggers.

Ever try to find yourself a few solid hours to write with a 7 year old who wants to get his way every minute of the day, and a 11 year old who knows exactly how to get under the 7 year old's skin?

Luckily with my little guy starting Kindergarten, he's now out of the house 8 hours a day, this has been a welcome reprieve for my own well being, and ability to get some quality work done.

It won't be long though, the long hot summer will return,  and the parent/writing at the same time juggling act will as well.

I don't get as much work done as I would like when the Kids are home. Mainly the interruptions of my train of thought are the toughest.

You know, you get on a roll, and then suddenly WWII breaks out in the next room?

The siren sounds, and you hear the screaming and crying get closer to you as the youngest one runs down the hallway to your office screaming "daddy daddy daddy, bubby won't let me play the game." After the fifth time of that you're pretty much shot for the rest of the evening as far as writing goes.

Before my son started school, but still during the summer and winter/spring breaks, I spent 9 hours everyday taking care of the kids as my first order of business

In the evenings and most weekends I'd get very little reprieve.

Mommy works all day too and has office stress, and those politics weighing on her mind, so I feel guilty about whining about my situation.

This is the life I chose, so it is my responsibility to make it work the best I can.

How do I do it? 

Some of my tricks to steal writing time

Get up a few hours early

This is a strategy that has worked well over the last 5 years to guarantee a few hours of uninterrupted work time. You might want to just crash after you get the kids to bed however, so you can get up early.

I actually get some of my best work done in the few hours before the kids get up. They're older now, and not as high maintenance, but this strategy works well during spring, winter, and summer break very well.

You'll at least know that you get a few quality hours any day you want this way.

Try noise cancelling headphones

I keep my kids in the same room me in sight so I can see what's going on in case one tries to choke the other.

This helps me focus on the task at hand, kids screaming or arguing over minutia is not conducive to article writing. You could of course do this in another room, if your partner is there watching the kids.

Tablets and or video games are a must

Usually I could steal and hour or 2 a day with my son's use of a tablet or iPod touch, or an old iPhone without the sim-card I use as a glorified iPod. Anything to keep him occupied.

Do make sure you have the tablet set to not allow in app purchases, and might be a good idea to have a block on the internet.

 Also, YouTube has a lot of inappropriate stuff that pops up that is targeted to adults, that any red blooded kid will be drawn to, so be forewarned. Luckily a mix of quality educational games, and a few they pick out via the X-Box seems to do the trick these days.

You have to get creative with the things you can get them to do by themselves or each other. The Kindle Fire for kids cost lest than 100 dollars now.

So when do you get your break from the noise? Make time for it!

During high-stress times, I go for a walk immediately after mommy gets home for 2 hours sometimes, just to not have to hear the kid-chatter, this will be an issue I promise you.

I usually listen to podcasts or something constructive, but sometimes you just need no noise at all, just a walk along the river or a bike path with the sounds of nature can do me a world of good.

Talk it out with your partner, make sure they know that you need a break for a little while too.

Again, if you have selfish partner...one that is myopic and self absorbed, it's going to be a never ending struggle and quite probably going to end badly one way or another.

You can hope for change, or make your own change..tough but brutally honest. At some point you'll likely reach your breaking point. Either you stop blogging, and be the obeying partner... or you break away and look for a more supportive situation.

Make every effort to communicate your needs, and try to find some common ground. When Kids are involved you sacrifice for them as much as possible, but if you are not fulfilled, eventually you will be so miserable that nobody wins.

Working Weekends?

Perhaps work it out so you get one weekend day of 8 solid hours of work time? This was something that worked well for me, I would spend one of the weekend days with the family, usually all day and evening.

I would stay away completely from writing. Being focused on only the kids makes the stress much less, though I must admit after 5 days of that work/parenting stress, I sometimes have asked that I get the Saturday away from the kids as the work day, and not have to wait until Sunday.

I can get a lot of work done on the one work day, sometimes I would work 12 hours! Usually the Kids would be out and about shopping with mom or visiting the in laws that day, so it worked out for me within our family structure.

Oh, by the way, during my days with the kids, I do plenty of shopping, laundry, fix lunches, go to parks to play, blah blah blah. So yes, you are Daddy or Mommy first, and the writing is sprinkled in as you can.

Motivate Yourself By Earning That First Blogging Dollar

When you earn that first dollar doing what you love to do, it has a psychological effect.

Proving that you can earn something from Blogging, no matter how small, can make a huge difference in your motivation.

After all, up to that point for me it had only been a dream, and I heard over and over again from family and friends it couldn't be done.

My first payment for writing online was $6.24 on February 10, 2010. I distinctly remember the satisfying feeling of actually accomplishing what I was told couldn't be done.

Yeah, it wasn't much, and it took me nearly 18 months to earn that first dollar. Now understand, at this point I had only dipped my toe into the waters of freelance writing. I had no real strategy, had only learned a few very basic tenants of the business.

From that point on I was fueled, a burning desire to learn as much as I could, and spend the lion-share of my free time toward the pursuit of earning income online.

From manual laborer to easy money?

One of the biggest misconceptions I had was thinking I could just push a button and sit back and relax while the income rolled in.

Now, their is some truth to this when considering passive income.

You build a niche site, or build a niche on third party sites that you spend a portion of time on, and then after that initial hard work, you sit back and watch the income roll in off of affiliate products or affiliate links from places like Amazon, eBay, or Commission Junction.

For you to earn meaningful income it will not be easy. You need to have the tools to do it, the community helping you, and the passion to build your own brand.

Just start writing about things you are passionate about, and start learning...
The foreign will eventually become familiar, and before you know it, you'll be earning something.

First, you need a blog. Blogger.com is a fine place to start.

You can sign up for Google Adsense. If you don't already have a Google account, you really do need one. You can have one account for easy signing in and out, you can use a whole menu of tools like Adsense, Blogger, Webmaster Tools and GMail. Just take action!

3 Essential Quick-Tips for Newbie Bloggers

Newbie bloggers shouldn't obsess about Search Engine Optimization

I rarely do keyword research: Admittedly though, I did get a few tips and hints early on about using common sense, and walking in a information consumers shoes. I never fell victim to the keyword-stuffing back-link Svengali types out there.

You can get bogged down with all the technical beat the search engine stuff, you're better to just write and get learning.

If you come at this from a quality-information-meets-consumer-needs philosophy, I believe you will get rewarded over time.

Just make sure your titles and subtitles have the target keywords for the reader you are going after.

Sites like Twitter and Facebook are also pay to play, and honestly I think you'd be better off just creating good informative content, and not worrying about social media too much. You can build your own little tribe of followers just by creating heart felt information.

Develop a what you are known for

This is also known as developing a niche. If you have a particular expertise about something, this should be something you write about. After a period of time you can become a go-to expert on the topic.

Understand this however: You can't really develop working only a few hours a week, blogging involves writing articles, and participating on social media, forums, and other networks inside the community you want to reach.

Think 90% writing and creating your blogs or sites and 10% social media and other stuff, probably 99.99% actually just writing and building.

After a year or so of daily work, writing, and participating a little in groups and forums you should see some success.

Don't forget about responding to people who comment on your blog.


Hang out with people inside the niche you want to write about

The old adage, "birds of a feather flock together" is very true. If you hang out in forums and on sites with people you want to be like, you are bound to learn a few things. You can learn the things you should avoid as well, to save you a lot of trouble and time.

You will also learn of new places to write through forums and help sites, not to mention all the valuable tips from those more experienced bloggers.

This might be sobering for you, but I work 8-12 hours a day, 5-6 days a week minimum writing and learning. I also juggle an eBay business as well, so my time is filled. Oh yeah I am also a stay at home dad, thank God for caffeine, and a stiff adult beverage now and then for sure

The biggest reward for me personally has been not having to do the typical manual labor jobs I did until I was nearly 37 years old, at 46 I am now doing what I enjoy, you can too.

Bonus Tips:

Sign up for the Amazon.com affiliate program:

Amazon pays up to 10% (as of Jan. 2017) commission rates. If you develop a presence inside a popular niche, Amazon can be a big windfall for you.

You can promote products through your honest and info packed sites. Think about your passions, and then write about those topics. Don't just regurgitate ad-copy like product specs though. That will get you penalized by the search engines so fast your head will spin.


Sign up with VigLink affiliate Program:

You can choose from a multitude of different retailers and earn commissions.  Plus earn bonuses for referring others to the program. You can also use eBay and Amazon through VigLink.


Personally if you plan on focusing on Amazon product reviews for instance, I would just go directly through Amazon's affiliate program.