Tips for Working at Home with Kids

If a mere thought of juggling work life at home and managing kids side by side gives you some hard feelings, you are not alone. Working in itself is an everyday hassle and it becomes twice as much as demanding with the kids around. They demand ceaseless and continuous attention from time to time. Parenting while continuously struggling with tight deadlines and conference is not a joke. It often takes a toll on your mental health and greatly disturbs the work life balance. If you are going through the same phase and do not seem to witness any light at the end of tunnel, you’ve come to the right place. Here are some of the tips you can follow in order to excel at working at home with kids around.

1. Make a Separate Workspace for Yourself

Tips for Working at Home with Kids

Working at home with kids gets more and more difficult with the distractions at different times of the day. In order to save yourself from the trouble, find a designated work space for yourself in house. It can be a spare room, a desk or a card table lying in the living room. You can also use a stand up desk that’s quiet famous among remote working parents. It will definitely help you focus and even get your work done in less time. The kids will also observe your daily pattern of going to a “specific” place to work. As a result, subconsciously they will develop a habit of not disturbing you when you are in that place.

2. Create a Timetable

Tips for Working at Home with Kids

It is the most important step to plan your day ahead and set the “work hours”. Make your work expectations realistic; in accordance with the kids’ routine. Set a specific ‘goal’ in mind i.e. how many emails can you look into while your children are playing in next room? How much conference calls can you handle while feeding your children? Divide the work hours into little time slots and make a timetable.

3. Set Realistic Expectations

Tips for Working at Home with Kids

In order to succeed while working at home with kids, you need to set realistic work expectations. Do not aim for anything “too high” or “too low”. Focus on your skills and plan to excel in the required work field by making a progress every day. Do not treat your talent or skills as something secondary and demotivate yourself but also don’t go over the top. Break down the long term goals into short term goals that are achievable. You are not supposed to master the art of working from 9 to 5 while looking after kids. You can make mistakes and throw tantrums or even submit past the deadlines.

4. Make the Most out of the Naptime

Tips for Working at Home with Kids

Take the utmost advantage from the naptime of your children while working from home. Even if your kids sleep for half an hour or two hours, utilize this time to meet the urgent deadlines and finish the task that needs your complete attention and focus. This way, they would not be able to disturb you and work will be done without any disruption.

5. Take a Break

Tips for Working at Home with Kids

As a working parent, you need to give yourself and your work a quality time. In order to do that, sometimes you need to back off and take a break. When you feel like the work load is too much and things are no longer in your control, take a break and have some time with your family or ‘yourself’. It can be anything. You could just have a sip of coffee all by yourself or go to a one month trip to China. No one has a say in ‘your’ matters.

6. Set Quiet Activities for Kids

Tips for Working at Home with Kids

In order to complete your work at time, set some quiet activities for the kids at home. Such activities can act as a nice alternative for their nap time. These activities can include playing with coloring books, puzzles, stickers or their favorite dinner toy set. You’ll also be calm due to the fact that the kids are safe and sound right in front of your eyes.

7. Hire Babysitters

Tips for Working at Home with Kids

No matter how much successful you are at managing both the work and home affairs, sometimes you need an external helping hand. In such cases, hiring babysitters can be of great help. You can hire any relative or a trustworthy neighbor you’ve known for a long time. It can lessen your burden and when things get back to normal, you can take care of your kids again.

8. Communicate with Everyone

Tips for Working at Home with Kids

It goes without saying that communication is indeed a key to succeed in every sphere of life. When you are working at home with kids around, it is better to set clear boundaries and communicate effectively with your family members and work fellows. If somehow, your kids are disturbed due to the messy work routine, talk to them and tell them that their feelings are not invalid. Try to understand their point of view and then make a sound judgement. Just don’t take everything upon yourself and keep communicating with the people who are important in your life.

9. Wakeup early

Tips for Working at Home with Kids

Most of the remote working parents believe that waking up before their children has made their work life a lot more easier. If you are struggling to get your work done from home, try waking up before your children and as an early bird and you’ll be able to catch more than a worm. By the time kids wakeup, you will be done with half of your tasks. It may seem a bit challenging in the start but once you get used to it, both the personal and work life will be balanced perfectly.

10. Look after yourself

Tips for Working at Home with Kids

Last but not the least, you need to take care of yourself. Your children, work and other responsibilities can wait. You won’t be able to do them anyway if you’re not being yourself. Your life and health comes first. Take one step at a time and do not let the increasing pressure of deadlines affect your health. Take your naps on time. Take a decent amount of vitamins and other supplements to charge yourself and if possible, make some time for exercise. Even ten minutes of daily stretching can help you feel better and boost your productivity. 

Working from Home – It’s all About Keeping Your Nerves Intact

Remote-working parents are always at the edge of juggling with the endless practices, projects, doctor appointments, meetings and work travel. During this endless hassle of managing both work and personal life; to give your best at delivering quality work and having nice time with family, do not forget to look after yourself. Remember that every type of work needs some ‘ground rules’ to be set. Make a proper schedule, so that your work life balance does not get disturbed. Even if things go a little out of control, try to keep your calm and remember that this is only a rough patch and things will definitely get better in the future. As long as you’re healthy and happy, no obstacle is too big to manage!