Tips for home working with children.

13 Feb

With the school holiday break looming I thought now would be a good time to write down my own tips for working from home with children.

Whether you are a working from home pro, and have done so for years, or if you have recently made the move to working from home full time, hopefully there is something here for you or this is just to remind you that you cannot do it all.

Before we get to the tips I want to give you some reminders;

Screen time isn’t the devil

Please don’t beat yourself up for any screen time, if that is what is needed for a few hours to allow you to get some work done then so be it. That is just how it is sometimes.

All children have different needs

Children at different ages have a varied range of needs so whilst my own children are in pre-school and the first years of school and that is where my experience lies you may have a different dynamic or not even be at that point yet.

So take this post with a pinch of salt, I am lucky my children are fairly self aware, they have each other and can keep themselves entertained for a certain amount of time but others the same age may not, everyone and every child is different.

My own experience

I thought it might be good for me to describe my own situation and how I am now settled into working from home.

For me when having to work from home the first time in 2020 my eldest was in nursery which stayed open and the youngest went to family, this continued and allowed me to settle into my own home working routine alone which I am so grateful for, and I think this helped when we did the same in the coming months and for me now running my own business from home.

The second time around in early 2021 my eldest was then at school and my youngest was at nursery which again stayed open.

My eldest was only in reception so the home schooling element for her was minimal and she was fairly capable of doing the work alone, for others with multiple children at school age all being home I can only imagine and heard many stories of other family situations.

Again you can only do what you can do.

So onto my own tips that I implement when trying to work from home.

Plan ahead as much as possible

I am fortunate that being my own boss I can plan my work well in advance, if you are employed as a remote worker this may be harder to do, but definitely speak to your employer about it, and make them aware that you will have children in the house.

Most are much more sympathetic and accommodating, as they themselves had to juggle when working during the pandemic.

However if you can plan ahead, reduce your meetings, reduce your workload, don’t plan that big project for the school holidays.

It is fairly clear you will not get a full working day done with children around so don’t put yourself under that pressure.

For me in this upcoming holiday I have planned for the youngest to still go to nursery a couple of days, the eldest is booked into holiday camp for one day which will give me 7 hours of children free time, and they are going to family for one afternoon as well.

This gives me around 10 hours across the week child free and this is when I will schedule in any meetings or work that will be detailed and will go more smoothly without interruptions.

Also plan your activities together, there is a tip for this further on.

Routine

Routine during the day is something children pick up on very quickly. The Pomodoro technique is a good example of this (Where you work for 25 minutes and have a 5 minute break but those work minutes are focused, there are so many articles on this so go look those up after reading this)

I do similar but do two lots, I will work for 50 minutes and then have a 10 minute break to rest myself but also to then interact with my children.

During that 50 minutes the children could be doing an activity, screen time, or playing but then having that 10 minutes to reset and change up their next activity breaks up their day.

If they start to get restless you can clearly say “in 5 minutes we are having a break and will do something different”.

This routine is not an all day solution though, children will get bored but for a morning or afternoon it is a good way to get some work done and keep the children busy with clear boundaries.

Plan Activities

Working from home was likely to allow you to be more available for your family and you want to enjoy the time with your children, so make the most of it.

Write out your holiday plan, we do a “holiday at home” calendar on the fridge. Check out the free printable for your own holiday at home planner at the bottom of this page.

Write out any activities, even something you would class as normal like a movie afternoon. Talking about it especially with smaller children engages them and they like having something to look forward to, so even if you are on your computer for a few hours you can easily remind them that this afternoon is movie time.

Snacks

Snacks as we all know is dangerous territory!!! I’m not sure about you but the constant requests for snacks especially straight after a meal can be infuriating, but building it into your day can help.

Having a fun snack to look forward to can help motivate you and your children!

Spend time in the morning making your snack, bake something yummy and then at snack time after a few activities/work time is when you can indulge and enjoy.

Ensure you take pleasure in your break as well, get a coffee and sit down and engage with your children.

It is all too easy to pass them snacks and try to get in a few minutes work but take the time for yourself.

Outside Time

All of us need some outside time (unless the weather is horrendous).

If you are not able to plan a long outside adventure, just getting out for half an hour after lunch will do you and the children wonders.

Playing in the garden, going for a walk in the neighbourhood, anything you can reasonably do in a small amount of time. Engage your children, point things out to them, notice the nature around you.

Use it as the time to revitalise yourself, if you have had a bad few hours and things haven’t gone to plan, getting outside is a great way to push the reset button and invigorate more enthusiasm for the remainder of the day.

I really hope you have gained something from this even if it is just to know that you cannot do it all, no one can. Find methods that work for your family and your children.