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A work at home parent is an entrepreneur who works from home and integrates parenting into his or her business activities. They are sometimes referred to as a WAHM (work at home mom) or a WAHD (work at home dad). Entrepreneurs choose to run businesses from home for a variety of reasons, including lower business expenses, personal health limitations, eliminating commuting, or in order to have a more flexible schedule. This flexibility can give an entrepreneur more options when planning tasks, business and non-business, including parenting duties. While some home-based entrepreneurs opt for childcare outside the home,〔("Child Care Providers for Work-At-Home Moms" )〕 others integrate child rearing into their work day and workspace. The latter are considered work-at-home parents. Many WAHPs start home-based businesses in order to care for their children while still creating income. The desire to care for one's own children, the incompatibility of a 9-to-5 work day with school hours or sick days, and the expense of childcare prompt many parents to change or leave their jobs in the workforce to be available to their children. Many WAHPs build a business schedule that can be integrated with their parenting duties.〔("Why become a Work at Home Parent?" )〕 == Integrating Business and Parenting == An integration of parenting and business can take place in one or more of four key ways: combined uses of time, combined uses of space, normalizing children in business, and flexibility. Combining uses of time involves some level of multitasking, such as taking children on business errands, and the organized scheduling of business activities during child’s down times and vice versa. The WAHP combines uses of space by creating a home (or mobile) office that accommodates the child's presence. Normalizing acknowledges the child’s presence in the business environment. This can include letting key business partners know that parenting is a priority, establishing routines and rules for children in the office, and even having children help with business when appropriate. Finally, the WAHP can utilize the inherent flexibility of the work-at-home arrangement. This may mean working in smaller increments of time instead of long stretches, looser scheduling of the day’s activities to allow for the unexpected, and working at non-traditional times. A business that demands 9-to-5 business hours, a polished office, intense one-on-one time with clients, dangerous materials, or impromptu appointments may not work well for a parent with children at home. Thus, not all professions lend themselves to work-at-home parenting. Without good organization, the WAHP may experience decreased productivity due to added responsibilities and unexpected interruptions. Internet businesses or 'virtual assistants' are well-suited as work-at-home businesses. The Center for Women's Business Research, a non-profit organization, found that Generation X mothers are the most likely to work from home. The center also reports that between 1997 and 2004, employment at female-owned companies grew by 24.2%, more than twice the rate of the 11.6% logged by all businesses.〔("Working Moms Tear Down Office Walls", ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', 3 May 2005. )〕 Types of businesses that WAHPs may engage in include telecommuting for corporations, freelancing on project such as articles, graphic design or consultig, or working as an independent contractor, running home-party businesses, managing complete companies from home, and providing valuable business and marketing support. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Work at home parent」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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