Guide to working from home with children

What do you imagine when you hear “work from home” or the most popular term “home office”? And what if we add to the work the home of one or more children?

Turning your home into an office with all its amenities? Have your time as you see fit? Do you have constant access to the café or restaurant (referring to the coffee machine and refrigerator, which you must have filled in advance with something delicious and tempting)?Do you reckon with annoying colleagues who will deal you with “exciting topics” like “You know what I did last night?I've cooked amazing beans! ' or “How I got into a fight with the neighbor because you played super loud music right when I had to put the kid to sleep.” Are you letting the air conditioner blow cold right above your head when you have a runny nose?Do you need to get up at least 1-2 hours before work?Do not creep in public transport with annoying travelers smelling unpleasant? Or hanging in traffic with edgy drivers watching how to mention all your family members just because you haven't built up properly?

Well, definitely working from home has its advantages.Yeah, there's no personal contact, social connection, the ability to show off with your new dress in front of colleagues, but a lot of people don't get in the way.Working from home can be very pleasant and organized, but if the presence of children intervenes in the picture, then things sound a little different.Zand children working hours does not exist. They want attention, care, their favorite stuffed toy immediately, HERE AND NOW, with no right of appeal, delay and justification.And in this there is nothing abnormal and surprising, because children are accustomed to the attention of their parents, yearn for him and enjoy him truly.Whatever happens during your working day with a child at home, do not be mad at him, or at least try to contain your annoyance and nervousness!Count to 10, get out of the room, drink a cold water.It's hard, undeniable.It all comes from the fact that there are several roles that you have to play at the same time, and this is impossible even for the best actor.Your desire to “shine” everywhere, do your job perfectly, but also to entertain the child properly, and sometimes the fact that neither of the two things works out makes you annoyed, most often to yourself. So comes the moment when you take it out on the kids — with a heightened tone, a fight, a punishment.Do not despair and do not blame yourself!Remember, you are a man too, and you have a limit of strength and nerves! And everything you do is born of your desire to be a good parent, but also a good employee.

To make work from home with the presence of one, two or several children a “mission possible”, it is good to follow some simple guidelines that will help you rethink your everyday life and create the most acceptable option that works with you.

1. Distribute your time wisely.

Compliance with a regime is a good start.Children love consistency, repetitiveness, predictability — it gives them security and feel more comfortable.And it will be much easier for you to plan the day.Once you come out with 10 or 40 minutes of your usual schedule, don't turn it into drama and cause for worry.It happens, with children it is difficult to predict everything at 100%.But don't change your schedule completely — it can lead to a complete failure of the day because of an uncontrollable child and a nervous parent.

If you know what you need to do for the day in your work, distribute your tasks in the most appropriate time zones.What does that mean? If you have a job that requires all your concentration, processing important documents, money transfers, important conversations with clients or superiority, think about when you will have the most peace of mind (or assume you will have, because children are sometimes really unpredictable).Start your working day early before the child becomes (hopefully he likes to sleep at least 7-8 hours, and if he sleeps until at least 9 hours, then you are absolutely lucky, you can drop the lotto and hope for a sure profit). This way you will have a little time to work focused and on a fresh head (hope you are not one of the sleepy and hard waking up, because then it will be difficult for you to follow this recommendation, but one can always try and learn). If a child sleeps an afternoon's sleep, this is an ideal time in which you can have important conversations in which children's screams are not heard in the background, such as backgrounds.

A great option to spend your lunch break is to go out with the child for a walk. He will spend his strength and get tired enough for a long afternoon's sleep, and you will collect some vitamin D, and you will spend time only for him, without your phone or computer.

If at home you are two parents who work at home, you can share the active care and supervision of the child. You can alternate - every 30 minutes, every 1 hour, every 2 hours — that's what you decide, but understand yourself in advance so that family scandals do not happen without special occasion.

If a child goes to a garden, school, study or at least part of your working day passes without his presence at home, use your time to do a satisfactory volume of your daily work.Do not be tempted to call your mother and spend an hour on the phone in sweet tales.Not that you will not be happy at the moment, but then you will regret bitterly and it is quite possible to get nervous if you fail to finish what you planned in time.

Explain in your work that you combine working from home with watching your children. Let your colleagues and superiors be prepared for someone and other non-articulated sound or scream during your work conversations.Most employers, especially if they are parents, can understand you.But do not explain yourself too much, do not justify yourself with children for their undone work, do not constantly explain how naughty they are and how difficult it is for you to combine the two things. This not only does not make a good impression, it also definitely irritates the surrounding people.

• Provide interesting self-catering activities for children.

The most reasonable thing you can do for you and your children is to teach them self-initiative and self-initiative.Yes, it is also the most difficult and time-consuming endeavor, but believe me, you will draw the assets exactly when it will benefit you most.

Every parent knows the interests of his children and the activities that give him the most pleasure, the longest he can spend in independent pursuits. Whether it's puzzles, drawing, coloring, playing with plasticine, cooking with toys, playing with strollers — everything is accepted.Alternate different activities, tell him about his favorite games and provide him with variety.Children, especially small ones, are easily tired and distracted, difficult to spend a long time in one action. You can make a list of different games and activities and alternate them or offer them to the child (because he likes to have the right to choose and feel significant).

You can equip next to you, at the table or desk, work area and for your little one.Children like to emulate and imitate the actions of adults. You can understand that you are colleagues and you work together. This will certainly seem fun to the little helper, and for you it will provide a little peace of mind for work.

If your child is older, it can be easier to engage independently. There are great coloring books, logical tasks, development of imagination, observation and fine motor skillsthat you can supply yourself with and provide not only the viewing but also the training of your child.

And it wouldn't be fair not to pay attention to parents with two or more children.Much depends on the difference and their sex (the boys are by nature more naughty), but if you're lucky, they might be from the kids who play together and spend a long time in joint games. If they fight all the time, let them understand from the beginning that teamwork is of utmost importance in this situation.Talking, talking, talking and talking again, it 's the only way you can get an understanding.Do not despair if it does not work out in the first day, week or two. If you are sufficiently argumentative, descriptive and convincing, you can achieve unseen success. If you do not have the patience to wait, or simply things don't work out with your children, just divide them into different rooms to play independently and avoid conflicts that you must inevitably solve and which will make you nervous further.

If your child is too young (under 2 years old), there is nothing to be fooled, working from home will not be easy and fun at all.Try to provide yourself with the maximum time for work without the presence of the child. Early morning, during lunchtime sleep, evening late, after the other parent's home from work, or just call a grandmother, grandfather, aunt, neighbor or babysitter to help (probably the best option if you have the financial opportunity, strive for complete professionalism in your work, protect your mental health, you are definitely “for” healthy relationships in the family and the extra load would affect your happiness and that of your family, you insist on setting the rules for raising your children yourself and you want to have the opportunity to control the process and make remarks without worrying about deteriorating relations with your beloved mother-in-law, mother or other family member).

Do not let children spend too long in front of the TV, tablet or phone. This is only a temporary solution and providing peace of mind.It is not useful for children, for their mental and emotional development.Excessive hanging in front of the screen makes children irritable and overexcited, and this will not benefit you.Try still to use the good qualities of the technique. There are a number of programs and games that are educational, and from which the child can learn something useful.Coloring, guessing and naming words, finding differences, video lessons, audiobooks, listening to songs and fairy tales — get interested and you will find many options.

You can also provide some interesting activities for children — if you are a member of a Facebook group for mutual help and home-schooling, you can get a lot of ideas that will be fun and useful to the children, and with which you can get time to work with.Working with paper, children's quilling, drawing with homemade volumetric crayons, making a toy from an old sock — the ideas are dozens, take advantage!

However, if you get to the point where nothing helps — the child behaves badly, makes only white people and you wonder how not to deal with him — it's time to rest!Kids are looking for attention. They feel when mom and dad are busy doing something else and taking care of them should be by the way.That's why they all try to become the center of your attention — with disobedience, white, rude language, drool.Stop working, take time only for the child — whether it will be 10 minutes or 1 hour, but show him that it is the most important thing at this moment and nothing else interests you. This will lead to a useful restart in his behavior and your relationship!

• Outside the working day — be available to the children!

you're done working for the day, indulge in your child!Play together, read books, cuddle, do homework, prepare lessons, but without work!Show him that you are already on the line, it's his turn to receive your attention, understanding and affection!Children are like gentle and sensitive flowers — strong and resilient, but equally wounded.Your work is important, but ultimately it is a means of making money to spend on and with your loved ones.You do everything for your children and your family and for yourselves!Indulge in rest, fun and joint games for the whole family.Cook together, walk, play ball, whatever, but TOGETHER!

As for household chores — well, there is no way, every housewife knows that she needs to provide a living for her family, provide clean clothes and relatively clean living environment (with children at home, the right word really is “comparative”).Share duties with your mate if possible.It's nice to cook twisted dishes worthy of any culinary show, but bet on fast and easily cookeddishes that do not require hours of hanging in front of the stove and hob.And do not forget to be healthy to provide enough energy for the whole family.As for cleaning — provide the minimum required, and if you have time and desire, clean behind the sofa and windows. You can follow the principle — when you see something dirty, you clean up the moment. So you can save yourself the need to provide an hour or two just for cleaning. If you have the opportunity, provide yourself with any household appliances that will make it easier and save you time — dryer, dishwasher, multicooker.

the final I can tell you one thing — it's all up to you! Whether you will work from home, watch your children and “ride the broom”, on the verge of nervous breakdown and exhaustion OR organize your daily life well enough, establish clear rules and change your attitude to perceive difficulties and deal with them and turn them into an opportunity, and not in an obstacle. And never forget the spare options such as hiring a housekeeper or babysitter, with which you can alleviate the situation as much as possible and not become a superhuman (rarely appreciated, and who does it really need?).Success!

You can look at our list of blog articles on the theme of games for children, from which to choose suitable ones for home:)

Share with us other tricks that may be useful to other home-working parents like you!