So instead of blogging I've been editing academic dissertations, which is evidently my new job. I've been trying to build up a freelance business for a while now and I feel like I'm starting to reach a tipping point where I can actually say "Why yes, I'm a freelance editor specializing in dissertations" rather than just every so often editing a dissertation for a friend of a friend. It's kind of awesome, because I love editing, and it is nice to have a little extra income, and it does my ego good to be considered an actual editor adult-type person. But on the other hand, being a Work Out of Home Mom kind of sucks. I like using my brain, I like that my son sees me doing some productive work and sees me being a professional, but I hate spending so much time ignoring him while I try to meet a deadline. Clearly I need to do some work on finding balance with that. I try to do most of my editing while he's in school or on weekends or after he's in bed, but there inevitably comes the days when I'm trying to wrap up a job and the poor child is plunked in front of the television for four straight hours.
Yesterday I just threw him out in the backyard with a squirt bottle full of water and some kid-sized gardening tools and let him do his thang. It was great. He came in covered in dirt and starving. I'm hoping with the gorgeous weather we've been having that I'll be able to exercise this option considerably more frequently than the tv option.
Today he goes back to preschool after his weeklong spring break, and we'll see how that goes. We've been doing a lot of work on "good choices vs bad choices," which is something he really seems to respond to. Although he's been telling me that he's going to make bad choices and then change them into good choices. I'm trying to figure out a way to communicate that while it is always okay to make mistakes and that it is wonderful to catch yourself in the middle of a mistake and change course, it is not acceptable to set out to make a bad choice. Sigh. This kid is too smart for his own good sometimes. He can always find the loophole in any rule.
I've always enjoyed your comments on Ask Moxie because I think we're in similar situations: one preschool-aged son, SAHM, cat person. I was excited to come back to your blog yesterday and see that you're also a freelance editor. I myself edit textbooks (elementary level), and I am in the exact same situation RE: trying to entertain my son while I work. I love that I'm getting more work lately, and I love having something professional to do during the day, but I feel guilty that I end up plugging my kid into one screen-based activity after another in an attempt to keep him occupied while I work. I feel like I would be better off having a paid babysitter for him, but my work schedule is so unpredictable that it would be hard to effectively schedule a babysitter. Also there's that whole "paying a babysitter takes some of my already not-that-awesome pay" issue. But hey, he does enjoy yardwork, so maybe I'll try your suggestion of throwing him out in the yard with a spray bottle.
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