Tips On Working From Home With Children

During the recent global pandemic, more and more people are working at home. In many cases, these people also have babies, toddlers, and other children at home as they have lost out on their infant care and other childcare, which can be another job in it of itself. Working from home when the kids are home is tough to do. However, it’s not impossible and isn’t a task that hasn’t been dealt with before. The important thing to do is have a game plan and work together. And, you need to remember to be flexible because these are unprecedented Emes.

How to Work From Home With Kids

Split Shifts- If you have a partner or another adult living with you, try to create a plan together on splitting up the workday and childcare duties. Maybe one of you will work in the morning while the other takes care of the kids and aHer lunch you switch. Or perhaps you work a couple days a week while your partner takes care of the kids and you switch halfway through the week.

Screen Time- While it is always a good thing to limit screen time, you might have to make some exceptions during this time. Turning on a movie marathon may help keep the kids occupied and allow you to get some work done. You could also turn on educational programs.

Interruptions- Being flexible allows for interruptions. Make sure you set limits with your children. However, babies and toddlers may not understand why you cannot help them right that second.

Set Rules, Offer Bribes- Hey, you got to get some work done, right? Let your child know when they follow the rules, they can have a reward. This way you will be praising the good behavior and hopefully see more of it.

Working At Home With Babies

If you lose your infant care during this time, don’t stress. Although working from home with a baby is a balancing act, it can be done. Always make people you are working with or communicating with aware of your situation. This way, if they hear a baby cry all of a sudden, at least they were given the heads up. Other ideas include:

Playpen- The playpen will be good to have during this time. Keeping the baby safe and confined will allow you to get some work done. Play mats will keep babies entertained that aren’t mobile yet.

Carrying- If you have a baby sling or carrier now is the time to use them. You will be able to type or use the phone while keeping baby happy.

Nap Time- Use nap time to get a lot of work done.

Working At Home With Toddlers

This age group can be more challenging as toddlers want to explore and play and are much more active than babies.

Playpen- You might be able to get away with using a playpen at this stage.

Screen time- This might be a good time to be a little more flexible on the amount of screen time for your little one.

Nap time- Toddlers are still taking naps, so it’s a great idea to get as much work done as you can during that time.

Flexible schedule- Check if you can work flexible hours. Try to get some work done before your child wakes up, while they nap, and after they go to bed. This might be stressful but remember it’s not forever.

Working At Home With School-Aged Children

While it is still somewhat difficult to work from home and manage the kids, children at this age are more independent. You won’t have to constantly keep an eye on them, and they know the routine and the rules. Some ideas that might help include:

Screen time- Again, be a little flexible with screen time during this time. Put on an educational program or even a movie about certain animals to keep them learning new things.

Schoolwork- If they have schoolwork to do, set them up with that while you are working. 

Games- Break out the board games for your children to play or find educational games online that will help reinforce learning.

You Will Get Through This

Although this can be a stressful time, you can only do so much with the situation you are given. Tackle each day by trying your best. It might be a learning experience, but many families are in the same situation. You got this!

When life gets back to normal, if you are in need of infant care, please contact the team at Wee-Folk Child Care Center, proudly serving the Lackawanna, Hamburg, and Orchard Park, NY areas.