Starting a family is a life-changing experience. Many parents, especially mothers, choose to leave their regular jobs and devote themselves to their kids entirely. Sometimes it’s a choice, other times a necessity because of the high costs of childcare. On rare occasions, a parent may not have any other option but set up a home office and work from home with their kids around. And stay-at-home parents can do a lot of things while looking after their young ones. They could take up a flexible job, for example. Keep reading and find some of the best jobs for stay-at-home moms and dads!

jobs for stay at home moms
Are you a new parent? Do you need to work from home? Find out what you could do to contribute to your family’s monthly budget!
Image by Freepik.

1. What is it like to be a stay-at-home and working parent?

Balancing work and your private life as a stay-at-home parent is not easy, yet it should not make you anxious. And it’s perfectly normal if you want to do something more than “just” spending time with your kids 24/7. There is nothing wrong with that. You may feel guilty that you miss some important events in your kids’ lives but you should not judge yourself so hard. There is even a Canadian TV show dads and moms could watch on this topic: check out Workin’ Moms!

Luckily, thanks to technology, you can divide your days between being a mom/dad and a co-worker/boss. For example, many Millennial women have decided to become stay-at-home working mothers. They play the so-called traditional gender role of “being a stay-at-home mom” while running their own business, working remotely for a company part-time, or completing some freelance projects. It has never been so easy for stay-at-home moms to find a job that suits them.

What else new in the world? In the past, mainly moms stayed at home with their children. But the Nordic countries show that this shouldn’t be a norm: dads and moms more or less take their fair share of parental leave in Finland and Sweden. It has started to become more common for dads to stay at home with their children even in other parts of the world.

2. What are the pros and cons of working as a stay-at-home parent?

It truly benefits the young ones when their parents stay at home with them. They feel more secure as they always have someone around them. Someone who can fulfill their wishes, teach them new things, spend enough quality time with them, and make them feel happy and content. As your children grow older, your personality will also evolve and you learn how to handle various situations. Without the long hours in commute, you can finally develop a hobby or spend more time with your family.

Some would probably list the lack of face-to-face interaction with colleagues and clients (and the outside world in general) as a con. Also, stay-at-home working parents still do double shifts: they take care of their children and do their other job on top of that. Without a nanny, you should adjust your schedule to your kids’ routine, especially if they are older. If you run your business while staying at home and then suddenly you want to go back to work as a full-time employee, some recruiters may ask tons of questions about that. They may even consider it as an employment gap.

Of course, you can explain to them what your experiences as a stay-at-home parent taught you and how those could help you contribute to the success of the company. Sales and customer service agents need as much patience as parents do, for example. The routine developed with your kids could land you a project manager job later on. So, if you are in the position that you want to or have to stay at home with your kids, take advantage of this time. Almost anything is possible with a reliable Internet connection!

best jobs for stay at home moms
Photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash

3. The best flexible job ideas for stay-at-home moms and dads

Stay-at-home moms and dads can start a business, do some flexible online and/or freelance jobs, or learn new skills to broaden their repertoire that allow them to start a (lucrative) career in a completely new field for them.

3.1. Business ideas for stay-at-home moms and dads

While raising your kids as a stay-at-home parent, you might consider launching your first business. You can put your talents, skills and knowledge at work and begin a journey without a boss. You know best what would suit your personality and circumstances, but let us give you some ideas.

3.1.1. The pros and cons of launching a business

A person with a young family may not want to take (so many) risks: it costs a lot of money to provide for a family. You may cut back on the amount you spend on entertainment, take-outs and such, but new expenses emerge when a baby comes. Therefore, you should have a back-up plan when starting a business. Not everyone likes to write pros and cons lists, but those could help you make the decision faster.

The pros

  • You can pursue your passions and dreams and make money off of them.
  • You can experiment with different business ideas.
  • You are in charge.
  • You can adjust your work life to your private life and spend more time with your family.
  • You can learn a lot about yourself.
  • You can develop skills you could put into practice in other areas of life.
  • Your children can inherit your flourishing business.
  • You can run your business on the side while keeping your full-time or part-time job.

The cons

  • You need enough money to get started.
  • You may not get paid for a while.
  • You need to have enough savings to live on if things don’t turn out as planned/expected.
  • You need to cope with lots of uncertainty.
  • You can’t blame anyone else for your failures, but you can learn from all of them.
  • You may need to work harder and longer hours.

You can also read:

3.1.2. Start your own business

Teach online

Online teaching has been around for a while, but new technologies have made it more popular and accessible. Nowadays teachers can hold a lesson using their smartphone. Are you an expert in languages or other subjects? You can join the community of online teachers right away. Someone somewhere certainly needs your help—like your children, friends or family members.

If you think about it, you’re already teaching your children. Getting online to connect with students worldwide would be the extension of your parenting. You either opt for creating online courses and publishing them online with Udemy or offer face-to-face (online or offline) language lessons with Preply, Lingoda, Qkids, Savvy or Thumbtack. The freedom to choose your hours (and perhaps even your rates) is given. You can prepare (for) your course before your kids wake up or after they fall asleep, or when your partner or someone else babysits them.


You can also read:

Find teaching jobs here!

Start a consulting business

A lot of corporations worldwide hire consultants to make their business more efficient. Since agile gained momentum, it’s not that difficult to find a job as an agile coach. What if you don’t join a company as an employee but establish your own consulting firm? You can probably see the fruit of your labor sooner if you have relevant professional experience and valuable connections, but you can start your business from scratch.

Depending on your professional background, you may offer your services as a career coach, team coach, executive coach, leadership coach, etc. Consider your experiences as a parent as a competitive advantage. Parents need some guidance, too. Have you graduated with a degree in psychology perhaps? In your mission statement, don’t forget to mention that. You can lay the foundation of your business with Coach.me.

Find coaching jobs here!

Build a solid client base as a personal trainer

Contributing to someone else’s personal development could happen through physical activities, too. Sure, personal trainers, guiding their clients offline or online, could possibly face fierce competition. Yet millions of people sweat in the gym or in the comfort of their homes every day to get into shape. Would you focus on something niche or follow a holistic approach to personal training?

You could give them instructions on how to use the machines, what to pay attention to, what to eat before and after the training session, etc. Aside from personal training, you may do some training yourself and become a yoga or fitness instructor. We’ve seen some videos with some fitness gurus working out with their children, so you may target moms and/or dads. You could build or grow your client base with Bidvine or Udemy.


You can also read: Beginner’s guide to making money with Udemy

Find more personal training opportunities here!

Embark on a journey as an author

Aspiring authors don’t have to pitch their ideas to publishers anymore to have their books published. Many people decide to self-publish their work and sell ebooks online. There should be an audience for anything, even for your book. However, you should lower your expectations and practice patience. It takes time for a lot of people to release something that blows up the Internet. A lot depends on the topic and the format chosen.

We’re fully aware that many writers follow rituals and need inspiration and maybe quiet time to be able to create. This may not go as smoothly with kids around. Yet plenty of moms and dads have managed to finally sit down and share their stories with the world. Why would you be an exception?

What kind of book do you want to write? A cookbook? A novel? A collection of poems or short stories? A guide to parenting? A (funny, reader-friendly) manual? That’s right. You might have the expertise in something many people would like to learn about and still prefer books. Also, some indie bookstores host artists (designers and writers included) to talk about their creative process, projects and many more. You could contact them as part of your marketing strategy. Every business must have one.

Explore topics as a podcaster

Serial, one of the most popular podcasts of all time, was released in 2014. Since then, the number of podcasts has increased exponentially. Many Hollywood stars and prominent media outlets have started their own. How can we explain the popularity of podcasts? Well, you don’t need a huge pile of equipment to produce one: a mike, a recorder, a computer with an editing program, and maybe a program to design the branding. Professional podcasters probably use more professional equipment, but this could be your starter kit.

Feel free to choose any topic that interests you and could give you enough material for 8-10 episodes, 20-40 minutes long each. It may change week by week depending on your schedule with your kids. You may share your ups and downs as a parent or share tips on flexible work-from-home jobs for moms and dads. An average person may not get sponsors right away but that doesn’t mean you should not do your best. Some people got famous for putting shows together in their garages. Do you need any help? Ask your friends and family members! Vloggers sometimes build an episode with and/or around their loved ones, why not do the same on a podcast?

Release your inner influencer

The journey from an amateur podcaster to an influencer with thousands of followers possibly teaches you something about patience. Don’t get us wrong, your content may explode on the Internet within days or weeks and that brings you thousands of followers, but you should not count on quick success. You should also plan how to manage your kids and your work efficiently. This applies to Instagrammers. If you build your audience from zero, you may choose a particular area: fashion, parenting, food, arts, design, etc.

Once you’ve got a high enough number, you may monetize your audience and start collaborating with commercial brands. Read up on the laws and regulations regarding these deals. It’s more likely that you have to disclose that your post or podcast is sponsored or paid by someone.

Do you want to get some sense of working as an influencer? You can try MNFST and make short videos promoting brands of your choice and/or raise awareness of issues.

Become an influencer!

Sell your stuff

It includes selling new, used, upcycled and/or vintage items. If you’re good at fixing computers, gadgets and other devices, you could buy used computers and laptops, refurbish them, and then sell them online. What a good way to make money as a stay-at-home parent! To sell (or rent) your used items, check out Vinted, Carousell, OfferUp, Fat Llama, Letgo or Shpock.

You could also open an online store to sell your handmade creations via Zazzle or Etsy. If you are the creative type, of course. Let’s say you always wanted to build your own clothing brand but never had the time or courage. Do it now! While your kids are asleep, in school or with the grannies, go to your workshop, and start creating.


You can also read:

Become an online seller!

Become a home chef

If cooking is your passion, you can bake cakes and sell them to friends and family, or become a home chef and host dinners at your place. Of course, you must look after your kids, but you can simply arrange your cooking sessions/dinners when they’re asleep or when the grandparents take over your kingdom. You can cook with Meal Sharing, Mamaz Social Food, EatWith or BonAppetour. We assume you won’t be allowed to join any site if you’re a dog/cat owner. You must think of hygiene.


You can also read:

Check all home and private chef jobs here!

Work as a pet sitter

This may seem a bit more complicated for you since it requires you to take care of pets as well. That’s a perfectly understandable concern. However, if you’ve already got a few dogs, why not have others’ pets boarding with you? You don’t have to let 10 dogs into your home, only one or two—whenever you want. If you have a newborn or a small child, you could take the dogs with you when you’re doing your daily walks.

Pet sitters work flexible hours and are typically screened. In some cases, they are obliged to contact local authorities or a special institution to apply for permission to operate an animal care business in their homes. You can start your pet-sitting business with Care.com, PetSitter.com, Rover, HouseSitter.com, Host a Pet, Gudog, Wag!, PetBacker and/or Tailster.


You can also read:

Become a pet sitter!

3.2. Freelance job ideas for stay-at-home moms and dads

jobs for stay at home moms
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Leaving your regular job to stay at home with your kids doesn’t necessarily entail that you have to quit your career altogether. You can continue working in your field, only from home. Who knows, maybe your company will hire you on a project basis and send you assignments regularly.

Even if you have to establish your freelance career without connections, you have plenty of options. To list a few areas you may explore: IT, web development, translation, digital marketing, accounting, bookkeeping, finance, data entry, customer service, writing, social media, design, fashion, architecture, sales, law, human resources, engineering, science, or even transportation and logistics, etc.

3.2.1. The pros and cons of freelancing

Freelancing also takes people on a bumpy ride that may scare you. To limit the number of unexpected situations, do some assessments before trying to get your name out there. Aside from our pros and cons list, you can write yours and ask the question: is freelancing for me?

The pros

  • You can make money pursuing your passions and hobbies.
  • You are responsible for every aspect of your job: marketing, client negotiation, doing the actual work, finances, etc.
  • It may become easier to adjust your work life to your private life and spend more time with your loved ones.
  • You can improve a lot both personally and professionally.
  • You can keep freelancing on the side even after getting back to the office, if that is your ultimate plan.

The cons

  • You must save up some money to get started as a freelancer.
  • You’ve got a family, so you may need to play it safe and have enough savings (or have another source of income) to live on if you don’t succeed.
  • You may need to live with income uncertainty: some months might be better than others.
  • You can’t blame anyone else for your mistakes, but you can always learn from them.
  • You may need to work more and irregular hours.

See also:

3.2.2. Find freelance jobs

Freelance writing & editing jobs

Are you specialized as a writer/editor? This could mean expertise in a field (finance, lifestyle, sports, entertainment, etc.) or a type of job (translation, proofreading, content writing, etc.). If you made a living as a copywriter or similar before having your kids, Upwork, Verblio, Fiverr, Scripted or Freelancer.com could help you earn an income as a freelance writer/editor. Some of the best jobs for stay-at-home moms and dads include writing and editing as those can be easily done from home. You know what they say: content is gold these days. Many companies run their blogs, publish lots of case studies or white papers and/or need a talented creative to produce content for their social media platforms.


You can also read:

Find writing & editing jobs here!

Freelance marketing & PR jobs

Have you worked as a marketer or PR specialist showcasing your talent in writing (and editing) and developing strategies? With the right tools and resources, building and testing campaigns and then analyzing the results could go smoothly while at home. Freelancers probably compete with firms but hard work will pay off, and you can call some of your contacts to give you some leads. Aside from the platforms mentioned above, you can find jobs on PeoplePerHour or Hubstaff Talent.


You can also read: 22+ Websites for Professionals and Beginners to Find Remote Marketing Jobs

Find marketing & PR jobs here!

Freelance project management jobs

It’s showtime! You may have built a reputation as a good project manager in the office, but being a parent has turned you into a superstar. As a parent, you cannot do anything but follow a routine. Project managers (must) love routine and schedules, too. Have you worked in the field of IT, finance, the arts, translation? Offer your freelance services via Toptal, Thumbtack or Upwork, for example.


You can also read: In Conversation with an Expert: What You Should Know About Remote Work

Find project management jobs here!

Freelance IT jobs

You may have dreamt of becoming an artist but your parents told you the future was in tech and you joined a company as an IT professional. Have you supported your team as a software engineer, a web developer, a programmer, a data scientist, or something else? Look for clients on Codester, Toptal or Upwork! (You can also scroll up and find more platforms to register with.)


See also: Work as a Freelance Programmer, We Tell You How!

Find IT jobs here!

Freelance arts & design jobs

jobs for stay at home moms
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Freelancers in the field of arts or design either do passion projects or client work. Even if you’re used to creating as an employed graphic designer, lettering artist, type designer, illustrator, comic artist, VFX artist, sound designer or something like that, you’ve got the potential to start freelancing. Then again, you can begin with calling your former boss and ask them whether you could keep your job as a freelancer. Why not? Some of the online portals where freelancer artists and designers can connect with new clients include Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Fiverr, Toptal and Thumbtack.

Bonus job for women: If you love to watch fashion shows and always read about the latest fashion trends, why not work as a stylist Stella & Dot? You could share your passion with other women and give them some advice regarding their outfit. No previous experience is needed to either organize trunk shows in your home or somewhere in your city or sell bags, jewelry and accessories online.

Bonus job for men and women: If you’re a handyman or car mechanic, Porch and YourMechanic are great platforms to work with, but you have to go to locations, we assume. As a skilled plumber, electrician, cleaner, painter or with other kinds of special skills, you should get familiar with TaskRabbit. If your partner, another family member or a friend can take over the kids for a while, leaving the house will not require schedule change.


You can also read:

Find more jobs here!

Freelance recruiter jobs

You played a key role in your organization as an HR recruiter, manager or director. The years spent in the corporate world won’t go unnoticed. In the era of start-ups, lots of wish-to-be unicorns partner up with freelance recruiters. Reach out to them and introduce yourself. Another way of initiating contact with potential clients is through Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Fiverr, Freelancer.com or Hubstaff Talent.


You can also read:

Find recruiter jobs here!

Freelance medical jobs

Doctors and nurses take the Hippocratic Oath and pledge they practice their professions faithfully, not harming anyone. A 12-hour shift in hospitals and/or care centers demands a lot from anyone. If you don’t want to give up your practice entirely, get your hands on the Push Doctor app. It’s currently available in the UK and welcomes qualified doctors to advise people via their phones. (Are you a vet? Try InstaVet!)


You can also read: These care jobs are the future of work

Find medical jobs here!

3.3. Online job ideas for stay-at-home moms and dads

Technologies developed to produce efficiency and productivity have brought about changes in many fields. In this section, we’d like to highlight online jobs that promise flexibility but are done as an employee and not as a freelancer/independent contractor. We regard online jobs as great jobs for stay-at-home moms and dads because it empowers them to cherish their time with their kids and work simultaneously. Not to mention the inclusiveness of online jobs—thinking about disabled people who may not have the chance to enter the workforce before.

3.3.1. The pros and cons of having an online job

First things first, another pros and cons list is coming up. If you previously got a job at a company where Fridays were home-office days, you may not hear so much new info here.

Some of the pros

  • No more commute means more time with the family.
  • You can learn how to be more organized.
  • You can gain skills and use them in other aspects of life.
  • You only need a reliable Internet connection.

Some of the cons

  • You need to get used to communicating online or on the phone.
  • Your colleagues won’t be around to have some chit-chat in the company’s break room.
  • It may become difficult to separate work from your private life.
  • You can’t call the IT guy.

3.3.2. Find online jobs

Content Manager

You’d worked hard as a copywriter/content writer and soon became your company’s content manager. Congrats! We encourage you to discuss remote work opportunities with your current company. If you’ve already resigned, find another one. Content managers lead smaller or larger teams but that would go just fine without face-to-face meetings.

Travel Agency Representative

In more normal times, the tourism industry produces a chunk of a country’s or region’s GDP. Surfing the Internet, you will stumble upon a lot of companies hiring travel agents or travel consultants for remote jobs. You could even call them home-based jobs.

Customer Representative Agent

We assume you see a long row of cubicles… Well, you don’t have to. Traditional call centers still exist and probably will stay with us for a long time, but the number of remote opportunities is increasing. Among the companies trusting their employees to work from home (even as a parent) are Alorica, Teleperformance and SYKES.


You can also read: Top 10 Online Jobs To Work From Home

Check all flex jobs here!

3.4. Best jobs for stay-at-home moms and dads with no experience

No experience at all? No worries. You can visit most of the online platforms dedicated to freelance and/or online jobs and sign up. If none of the above interests you for some reason, you may create an account on Appen or Clickworker. If you enjoy taking photographs, sell your pieces via Fotolia, Byrd or Shootly.


Read also:

Browse jobs requiring no experience here!

4. Learn new skills and turn them into new sources of income

jobs for stay at home moms
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Staying at home with your kids can be the golden opportunity you have been waiting for. You can finally learn new skills you’ve been aspiring to do for so long but never had the time. And this new skill can lead you to a completely new territory—and may even make you bold enough to change your career path entirely.

Is launching a new, more prosperous career in a different field in the immediate or later future on your to-do list? We totally get it if you worry about the time and money it may require to reach an advanced level in whatever you’re doing. However, plenty of free courses are published online, so the lack of money should not be your excuse.

4.1. What are the best online courses?

Distance or remote learning has granted opportunities for a lot of people. Nowadays someone from Germany or the UK can access a course held by a university located in the US. Outside formal education, you may watch free tutorials or browse hundreds of online courses created by experts or some specialized individuals. You could study project management, digital marketing, data science, programming, which is a skill in high demand right now, or a new language, for example.

You wouldn’t be the first one who signs up for a course on Coursera, Udemy and Fiverr. You could certainly find a few courses that sound interesting and suit your level. AppJobs can also help you find the right platform to gain new skills and certificates online.


You can also read: Websites to Find Free Online Courses

Ignite your creativity

After a long period of mass production, small businesses started booming again. Buying unique, customized or second-hand (vintage) items has become trendy. Your body is a temple of creativity, so let your interests guide you to learn something new. You may consider courses in design, writing, filmmaking, acting, knitting, woodworking, welding, etc. Do you think you cannot produce anything? Don’t give up, there must be special courses out there for you too.

Once you believe in your talent and feel comfortable showing your work to the world, you can start making money. Just to give you some ideas of online portals you could join: Freelancer.com, Upwork, Fiverr, PeoplePerHour, Toptal, Hubstaff Talent or Thumbtack.


You can also read: Ready to lift off your designer career? Freelance graphic design jobs

Embrace your interests in science

It’s not the end of the world if you don’t have an affinity for the arts. Some people enter the scientific arena and look for courses in web development, programming, machine learning, data science, IT engineering, bookkeeping, taxation, chemistry, physics, and many more. As a first step, figure out what you could do with ease. You may spend hours trying to solve a difficult equation, but learning should bring you joy, not anxiety.

Just like in the case of any other subject, you have to sit down to improve and polish your skills. And when you’re ready to shine, you can create an account on Codester, Thumbtack or Taxfyle or submit an application at
Toptal.com.


You can also read: Work as a Freelance Programmer, We Tell You How!

Practice your passion for people

Even an average person needs some professional care sometimes. Whether they live in urban or rural areas, massage therapists, hairdressers, beauticians and other professionals could make anyone’s days happier and more relaxed. Even if you would never offer your services full-time, the people in your social circle could make up your clientele.

Have you always dreamed of being a massage therapist perhaps? Go ahead and get certified, and then start working as a freelance masseur or masseuse with platforms such as Soothe or Zeel. Do you have a strong interest in fashion? Attend a stylist/beautician course and work with Urban, Freely, Missbeez or OryxHub.


You can also read: Everything You Need to Know About Mobile Massage Therapist Jobs

Improve your language skills

Hundreds of research projects, if not more, have investigated the implication of speaking another language. The benefits include getting to know the other culture better, getting by more easily in a country where locals may not speak any English, or experience some changes in the way you think. Some people say English speakers are lazy and don’t even bother learning another language. Of course, thanks to migration, millions of people grow up bilingual or multilingual. What about you? If you decide to learn a new language or just an accent or a dialect, download some apps or watch some videos online. If you have the opportunity to attend offline informal meetings centered around language exchange, you can do that, too.

Translation and interpreting services are considered one of the fastest growing industries. Thousands of legal and medical texts, subtitles, recipes, books are translated monthly and usually hundreds of events need interpreters annually. Thanks to digital technologies, today CAT tools (computer-assisted translation) and video remote interpreting (VRI) boost the productivity of professional translators and interpreters. As a certified translator and/or interpreter, you may build a profile on Upwork, Freelancer.com, Hubstaff Talent, PeoplePerHour, Fiverr, Thumbtack

5. How to work from home with kids

Do you have your best job but still struggling to work from home? Well, it won’t get easier with kids, but you should not let your fears take over your life. You can do this! Here come 10 tips and tricks to maximize your time at home with your beautiful children around.

  1. Enjoy your time with your kids.
  2. Come up with a strategy/a schedule according to your kid’s age to keep them busy.
  3. Take advantage of tag-team parenting if possible.
  4. Designate a spot in your home for working.
  5. Determine when to work.
  6. Keep your work hours separate from your family time.
  7. Let your colleagues/clients know you’re at home with your kids.
  8. Schedule important phone calls when your kids are asleep.
  9. Accept the fact that you may not finish everything.
  10. Don’t be so harsh on yourself and your kids. You’re doing great.

Related content

6. Stay connected with other parents working from home

Parenting is hard, and working with kids around can challenge you even more. Yet you’re not alone. Reaching out to other parents to seek advice could be a game-changer. You can talk to them to get ideas, insiders’ information, tips and insights about working from home with kids around. We wish you good luck whether you start a new business or flexible, freelance and/or online job, or attend a virtual classroom and learn something new.


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