There is no doubt you heard about closed educational institutions. And the fact, that a fair percentage of us is suddenly working remotely. Combined together, we get full-time working from home parents with children of different ages.
Some parents became remote workers without previous experiences since it happened quite fast. And it can get messy. 🙂 Especially because there are strict prohibitions about social life regarding the coronavirus COVID-19. In order to stop the spread of the virus, we are self-isolated. We are at home. And that can often get quite stressful. Here are a few tips about how to handle work and parenting in these times, which I find useful for me.
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Start your day as if you were heading for the office
First of all, get up, take a shower, get dressed. Second, have breakfast (make some for your family too :)). And third, start your day early. This way, it is easier to follow the schedule you have prepared and therefore your morning may be quite less stressed.
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Make a plan for the day
Working from home while parenting requires a lot of discipline. Not only you have your own tasks, but you have to keep the small ones busy too. We have a rough weekly plan, but due to the circumstances. Meaning, small kids change their minds like multiple times even in one day, they get sick, they get tired, they are hungry, and so on. Because of that, I prefer making daily plans.
Check your schedule with your partner /husband and sync available time for the kids. Try to stick to the plan as much as possible. That way, you don’t end up running around the house, forgetting everything you wanted to do, and end up doing nothing except feeling exhausted and stressed.
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Set up rules and create boundaries
Teresa Douglas, the co-author of Secrets of the Remote Workforce, has worked from home since 2010 when her company switched to remote work. She said that one mistake parents make is not setting the right boundaries for children, even if you have a caregiver with them during work hours. “Children will always think of you as a parent first,” she said. To help her children understand when she needs to be left alone, Douglas puts a “STOP, in a meeting” sign on her door. “That’s the rule in our house. If my door is closed, you can knock one time, and if I don’t respond it means I’m in a meeting,” said Douglas.
We have a similar rule, but instead of the “Stop” sign, we just close the door. The girls are aware of the importance of staying out of that room whenever we have a business call or an online meeting.
The hilarious video of political science professor Robert Kelly’s toddler daughter waddling her way into a BBC News conversation on international policy shows how talented children are at interrupting parents who try to work from home.
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Excercise
I am sure, we all know the importance of physical exercise. If you are limited with time or don’t have a forest or a park nearby, you can stretch your body at home.
A tip from me: include your children and memorize a handful of Yoga stretches. The kids will feel involved, but also occupied with Yoga poses, which will give you some quiet time. Another benefit: it stimulates your creativity, helps you focus and increases freethinking. All together will definitely reduce stress and make you feel fresh and motivated.
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Unplug
Since the coronavirus is still spreading, we are prohibited to meet up with friends. But there are other ways to give ourselves a break.
During family dinners, put your mobiles and tablets on silent and leave them in other rooms. Enjoy a conversation with your kids. They always have so much to say. 🙂
Take a bath. (And lock the bathroom door of course.) Listen to music. Read a book. Or write down a few sentences about your day.
Regardless of how you wind down, make time to pamper yourself on occasion to avoid burning out and crashing into a mental brick wall from work and parenting overload.
Most importantly, hang in there. As your children age, it will get easier.
And sooner or later the current isolation will pass.
Remote work is nothing new for CorpoHub, we’ve been practicing since our beginnings. You can read about how we host our online meetings here. If you have questions, doubts or just comments, let us know at hello@corpohub.com.
