Changing to working from home has been a learning experience for everyone involved. Even if you have worked from home previously, working at home during the COVID-19 outbreak adds a new challenge: children. With schools and daycares shut down, all children are now home with their working parents. Here’s how you can take care of your children while working from home:
Set up a Schedule
Both you and your kids need to have a schedule to get everything done. Make a schedule for your children’s schooling, chores, and playtime. This doesn’t need to be a rigid schedule, but it should at least give you and your children an idea of how long each activity is supposed to go on. This will also help you to plan your work schedule for the times when your children are doing quiet, independent work.
Turn on the TV
While having your children watch TV all day isn’t health, letting them watch for just an hour a day can help you find the time you need to finish up a project. Additionally, there are plenty of shows that your children can watch that are educational as well as entertaining.
Give Your Kids an Art Project
Even though art project can be messy, they can occupy children for hours. Good projects include playdough, Lego, crayon drawings, and sidewalk chalk. All of these can be done without close supervision and will allow you to have some time to work without needing to be hands-on with your children.
Set up Games
Kids generally love to play games and there are plenty of easy to set up games. If you don’t have board games in your house, hide and seek and the quiet game are both good games to allow you to work. You can even offer rewards to the winners to make your kids more invested.
Use this advice to help you take care of your kids while working from home.