|  We need a little more income
to make it in my family, but I have preschool children and don’t
want to seek employment outside the home. Is there an alternative
for me to pursue?
You might want to consider building a home-based
business that can be done while taking care of your children and
keeping your sanity. Among the possibilities are catering, desktop
publishing, pet grooming, sewing, consulting, transcribing legal
documents or even mail-order sales. Choosing which business is right
for you is the first of three practical steps suggested by Donna
Partow, author of the book Homemade Business
($6, Focus on the Family Publishing).
You can start your own enterprise by taking
a personal skills and interests inventory to identify your particular
abilities and what you might like doing the best.
The second step is to do your homework. Begin
by asking your librarian to help you research your chosen field.
Check out books, magazines and newspaper articles. Talk to other
people who have done what you’d like to do. Join an industry
organization and a network of like-minded people. Subscribe to industry
publications.
According to Partow, the third step is to
marshal as much support as you can. Get your children, your spouse
and your friends on your side. Setting up a small business can be
stressful, and you’ll need as much encouragement as you can
get. If you’ve been torn between family and finances, having
a home-based business may turn out to be the best of both worlds.
+ + +
You have advised women in domestic violence
situations to “get out” immediately. Are you suggesting
that any woman who is being beaten should take the same course of
action? My husband has only hit me once in a big fight we had. Should
I separate from him?
Your situation may represent another category
of behavior. A man can become so enraged on a given occasion that
he does something he is immediately sorry for and would never do
again. That is very different from a repetitive, pathological situation.
You will have to decide how you will deal with that exceptional
situation, but I would recommend that it become a point of serious
discussion between you and him. If he hit you once, he can hit you
again. You need to set some ground rules that will prevent a similar
situation from recurring.
o
These are excerpted
from books written by Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the F
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