Ahh, the holidays. The next 60-or-so days until the end of the year will be jam-packed with busy schedules, school events, work deadlines, and...stress. For working moms who have in-office jobs, the holidays, combined with balancing their jobs, can be a difficult time of year. That stress is significantly lowered, though, when they have the ability to work from home, even occasionally.

Here are three scenarios in which telecommuting helps working moms juggle the holidays.

The Morning Rush

As we come to the end of the year, the days get shorter, the mornings darker. Any mom will tell you that trying to wake up your kids for those dark autumn days is not easy. Kids are groggy, cranky, and move slower than sloths. Then, add to that the fact that you’re trying to get yourself dressed and gulp down some breakfast before getting everyone out the door (loaded with extra layers of clothing, hats, gloves, scarves, and a million other things to keep track of), and it is simply a recipe for disaster. When you work from home, though, you can remove yourself from the stress of suiting up for work and get your kiddos off to school (and on time, to boot!), and then hit your home office, ready to start the workday.

Cold and Flu Season

It’s inevitable. Even if the holidays are a festive time of year, they unfortunately coincide with cold and flu season, and your kids are most certainly going to bring home at least one whopper of an illness this season. With your children needing to stay home sick more often, if you work in an office, getting your boss to approve extra sick days so that you can stay home with your child can end up making you feel sick. But when you telecommute, you can take care of your sick kiddo and still get your work done without skipping a beat. It may mean that you have to rejigger your schedule, but you can get it all done without losing any workdays.

Your Child Forgets Something.

Imagine you’ve seen your kids safely off to school and are finally sitting in your cubicle. But it’s midterms or finals, and you get a frantic call from your ninth grader: he needs his laptop because it has an important file on it for his Social Studies presentation. Failure to produce said file will result in a big, fat zero for his grade. You know that your kid has worked weeks on this project, but you’re also staring down a mega deadline. When you work from home, it’s easier to handle these kinds of crises because you don’t need to run back and forth between home and the office. This kind of work situation allows you to drop off his laptop (and give him a stern warning to not be so forgetful next time!) without making too much of a dent in your workday.

The holidays can be the perfect storm of stress and chaos when you work in a traditional office. While we can’t guarantee that you won’t have your fair share of stress, it sure can be a lot less bumpy and a lot more merry when you work from home. If you agree, join us and become one of the 1 Million for Work Flexibility!