“When was the last time one of you looked at the clock?” I duck out of the video screen(as I was on a conference call) and yelled to my kids. It’s 1:00 p.m and the house is exceptionally quiet. Work-from-home with kids is making me a kind of mom I would never be otherwise!
By this time, as per the pre-decided schedule my kids should have lunch. But no strategies are working in this lockdown phase. Parenting during the coronavirus outbreak is very challenging.
A lot of parents are quite frustrated as working and staying productive with kids is a nerve-racking issue. So here we bring a list of advice that ACTUALLY works to ease out your “work from home with kids around situation.”
Feel free to choose the ideas listed below, experiment a bit with them, and if needed tweak it to suit your household.
10 Tips To Master Working From Home With Kids In Quarantine
Establish A Productive Schedule
Prepare a quarantine schedule for your kids. It will keep them engaged and you will get a few core hours that you can solely utilize to focus on your work. A well-planned routine will keep your day structured and you can easily organize different activities without losing your mind.
Clearly Convey Your Expectations
Clarity is a much-needed quality, especially during this work from home with kids around phase. Let your kids know what exactly you expect from them while you juggle between work and other duties. Let kids know timings of your conference calls, presentations, etc so they do not interrupt in between.
Use Smart Disciplinary Measures
When kids will see you glued to your office projects, they will spend hours on devices or TV. As parents apart from your office tasks you need to discipline kids. Set device-free zones in the house, you can also use one of the best kids’ safety apps – Bit Guardian Parental Control to restrict kids screen time, while you are busy working for your office.
A Perfect Way To Safeguard Your Digital Kids
- Screen Time Control Features
- Location Tracking And Geo-Fencing
- App Block And App Install Block
- Panic Alert and SOS Button
- Anti-Theft Feature
Set Up A Snack Station
Whether you are working from home for any company or you are an entrepreneur trying to mitigate your clients’ needs from home, the frequent snack breaks of kids will definitely distract you.
Prepare your kid’s favorite snacks a night before. Keep snack jars and bags handy. Best is you organize them on a lower shelf so kids can access it.
Establish Boundaries
To ease out work from home with kids, you need to prepare your kids with a few guidelines. Door shut indicates no coming in!, When you are on call, no shouting yelling or other toy’s voices. These are a few basic set up to keep things rolling with kids around. Set up clear boundaries and do not entertain rule breaks.
Promote Kids’ Hobbies
While you are busy with your work, let kids enjoy their favorite activities. Promote their hobbies and motivate them to do something creative every day. Develop hobbies like reading, doing craft projects, learning a foreign language, etc. This will keep them positively engaged and you can focus on your work having kids around.
Let this lockdown be the learning phase for your kids. You can make them learn about sharing responsibilities. Assign age-appropriate tasks to them. Make them clean their rooms, let them prepare their beds. Take their help in household chores that can ease out your overall duties of the day.
Evaluate Your Everyday Tasks And Your Team
Productivity and organization go hand in hand. If you want to perform best while working from home and having kids around, you need to assess your everyday tasks and your support team. Evaluate which are your priority tasks and which things can be postponed for the weekend. Carefully plan which member can do what task and how you can use your resources.
Prepare Yourself For Chaos
No matter how well you plan and strategize things, there is always a chance for a mess. You need to understand that not only you but even kids have their own crisis during this isolation phase. While you are busy with your projects kids have nothing to do. Mentally prepare yourself for a mess that kids are bound to create. Keep calm and handle them with peace.
Be Gentle
Be extremely gentle with kids and with your own self. Practice Gentle parenting during this tough time of COVID-19.Do not pessurise yourself with heavy duties. Take frequent breaks to relax your parental anxieties. Everyone is feared and feeling stressed in this lockdown phase. Keep yourself happy and proactive to give your kids much-needed attention during this situation.
To sum up, we must remember not only kids but parents also need to train themselves to perform best while working from home. Use a few productive tools and utility gadgets that can ease out your stress and help boost your performance while you are working from home having kids around.
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