We have children at home - much younger than JB's. Ours are 7, 5, and 3. Much of our experience echoes JB's. But a few things are a little different.
Oops - my disclosure - we have been in our property for 10 months now, having our first guests 9ish months ago...So, I'm NOT the most experience innkeeper on the block.
We have traveled, with our children in tow, since our oldest was about 5-6 weeks old. Because of this, they understand a lot of things other kids would not. They KNOW if they raise too much Cain in a hotel, we will have to leave, so that seems to translate to them that they need to be quiet when guests are in the house (as a matter of being considerate). They are used to interacting with adults, and are accustomed to many situations (such as formal dining) that other children aren't. At the same time, these children are really annoyed with me that I will not let them randomly dig holes in my lawn. Some things they understand, some they don't.
Strangers - this is proving to be a continuing area of education and vigilance with my children. Most of our guests have never even encountered our children (conflicting schedules of arrival and bed or dinner time), but there have been guests who appeared to want to interact with our children beyond my comfort level. At the same time, I am hoping that they will learn from us how to make others feel comfortable and welcome. I just make sure our children are NEVER around guests without myself (or DH) present.
The guest vs family time/priority is a really mixed bag for me. I appreciate the fact that because I may have "open" hours in the middle of the day, I can give time to my children I might not be able to other wise. But...I have learned the hard way I cannot just get up "in time" to make a guest breakfast, I must get up at least a half hour earlier, to allow for a potential interruption from a child who rises before I expect him to. And, there are days when my boys play WAY too many video games and watch WAY too many cartoons. These days make me feel really bad...On top of that, I never feel either the BnB or the family are getting my full impact - I should be re-doing that webpage, I should be
harrying encouraging my 5yo with his reading, I should be checking the analytics, I should be taking new pics, I should be ironing DH's shirts (well, maybe not that one)...
My DH is very, very helpful, but he also works a FT job outside the BnB, so the bulk of it falls on me, especially during the week. And sometimes, well, things just don't get done. I find I have a great deal of frustration because I *know* there are things I could do - theoretically - to increase business, but the limit of 24 hours in a day, and the immediacy of cleaning, laundry, cooking, phone calls, emails, children, oh, and SLEEP - keep getting in my way!
As JB said - guest breakfasts come first. In fact, I have on occasion been a little ashamed at what I make for guests as opposed to what I offer my children and husband. In fact, it has become quite common for the children to walk into the kitchen, look at what I'm preparing, and ask, "Is that for guests?"
OTOH, I am of the mind I'd rather have too much on hand than have a guest leave hungry, so the children (and DH if he's around) often have a very, very nice lunch on those days.
But: I am learning things about my children I never anticipated. When flipping a room, I will allow the children to come into the guest area with me, and frankly, I have been amazed at how well my 5yo can clean - and with enthusiasm (must be all the practice he puts into making things dirty). My 3yo is a great little gopher. Our 7yo spends his time making things he wants guests to buy. He has told me he intends to run a gift shop. (I am holding him off on this plan for the time being.) Most importantly, they enjoy working on projects together with us (me and DH). Yay.
I don't want to mislead you - it's hard. Some days, really HARD. But it's also very rewarding and (usually) enjoyable..