Working From Home with Kids? Follow These 9 Tips to Avoid Getting Distracted

Doing office work with your kids around the house is a daunting task and most of you will agree with me on this.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a nightmare for many working professionals who are left with no option but to work and nurture their children simultaneously. With schools shut down and office workers restricted to work remotely from their homes to promote social distancing, the situation has become highly problematic for many individuals.

The transition to remote work may itself be overwhelming for you, and now the responsibility to look after your kids can make you feel more troubled.

Even if you want to work regularly from home while attending your kids, then the idea of being a productive worker and a good parent at the same time may seem unrealistic.

However, from my experience, I can tell you that it’s completely possible for you to strike a perfect balance between both the roles. For that, all you need is a handful of tips that can help you stay focused and beat the clock when it comes to your work tasks.

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9 Tips To Save Yourself From the Burnout of Working From Home With Kids

1. Develop a morning routine

If you don’t have a defined morning routine, it’s very hard to keep things on track for the day.

So, the foremost thing that you need to do while working from home with kids is to set a morning routine. You should get up early, take a shower, do the essential household chores, and prepare breakfast for the kids before getting started with your office work.

Make sure that you do not juggle your morning duties during the initial office hours because it will affect your productivity significantly.

2. Plan your day

With kids, distractions become much more frequent and intense. So, how to keep your tasks on schedule?

Well, the best way to overcome this situation is to plan your day. You should prepare a to-do list either on a paper or using a dedicated to-do app.

A to-do list will help you remain informed about your daily tasks and help you complete them within the predefined time limit, or in other words, help you meet deadlines.

For instance, you can create a to-list that highlights your video meeting with a client in the afternoon hours and report creation in the final one hour before calling it a day.

Along with creating to-do lists for each day, it is advisable to create weekly and monthly to-do lists to get a wider view of what you need to accomplish in the long-run.

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3. Divide kids’ duty with your partner

Being a mother, it’s not only your responsibility to take care of kids while managing your professional work life.

If your partner is also working from home, then you both need to sit down and divide child care responsibilities equally among yourselves.

You need to discuss your work agenda for the day with one another to divide tasks in such a way that you give justice to your parenting duties while facing no setbacks for your professional roles.

Also, you both need to be more understanding, so that you can help out each other in unpredicted situations. For instance, it’s your partner’s turn to feed the children, but his meeting with the boss is taking longer than expected, thus you need to step up and get the duty done.

4. Choose a dedicated workspace close to your kids’ playroom

Having a workspace that is less invaded by your children can help you focus on your work.

However, as a parent, you want to make sure that your kids don’t get themselves into trouble while you are busy doing your office tasks.

So, instead of choosing an isolated zone of your house to be your workplace, it’s better to choose a space that is adjacent to the room where your kids play and spend their day while being active

However, make sure your workspace is separated from the playroom with a door, otherwise, you’ll be having a hard time concentrating on your tasks.

5. Take short breaks to give time to your kids

Believe it or not, kids need your attention from time to time. If you ignore visiting them often, they may get agitated and refuse to stay away from you.

Thus, what you need to do is to take short breaks and attend your kids. You can play, read a book, have a meal with your kids, or even tell them a short story.

The periodic visits to your children will help you to ascertain that they are well and will make them feel loved.

6. Take advantage of nap time

Taking naps during the day not only is good for your kids’ physical health and mood, but it can be advantageous for you too.

If your kids take naps during the day, then you can capitalize this time by becoming more productive at work. Your kids may be sleeping between 1 to 3 hours during naps, and all you need to do is to work on the most demanding tasks during this time to finish them faster.

Also, make sure that you do not waste this crucial time doing chores or scrolling social media websites on your smartphone.

7. Be ready for unexpected situations

Often, you may have to face an unexpected situation with your kid. For instance, you are on an important official call, and suddenly one of your kids starts whining because he needs something to eat.

Well, you have to mentally prepare yourself to handle such situations gracefully, which usually becomes evident when you have toddlers in your house.

One way to avoid such situations is to make sure that your kids are busy doing something like playing with toys, watching TV, etc. before you start working on an important task.

8. Share your situation with colleagues

Teams are built upon trust and to strengthen that trust, you need to maintain good levels of transparency with your colleagues.

Don’t hesitate to tell your colleagues that you have kids at home. When your colleagues are already aware that you have to take care of your kids too, they won’t mind when one your kid starts calling you or enters the frame during a video conference call.

Also, you will save yourself from the awkwardness that you have to face when your kids start interrupting while you are in a meeting. 

9. Make use of the latest technologies

It’s the modern technology that has made remote working or work from home possible today.

But the best thing about today’s technology is that you will find gadgets and apps that can help you to bring ease to your life in most situations, including when you are working from home with kids.

Devices like video baby monitors and 360-degree cameras are perfect for keeping an eye on your kids when you are working in another room of your house.

Similarly, you can also count on top productivity tools such as project management software like ProofHub, video conferencing apps like Google Meet, etc. to accomplish your work tasks efficiently while working from home.

Thus, you can rely on the latest technologies to assist you with your responsibilities as a parent as well as a remote team member.

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Why These Tips Will Make a Difference?

Honestly, I was eager to share these tips with you for two good reasons.

Firstly, these tips have been shared by several professionals who are regular remote workers and have immense experience working from home.

Secondly, I and my team that has kids at their home, have adopted these tips, and they have worked very well for them too.

Thus, these tips are tried and tested and you can at least try them to find if they work for you as well.

Conclusion

Working from home with kids is challenging, and you need to put extra effort to work it for you. Along with making sure that you take proper care of your children, you also need to pave the way for becoming a successful remote worker too. The tips that we have talked about in this article will help you to stay focused on your work while successfully assuming your day-to-day duties as a parent.