Even if you’ve been working from home for years, the pandemic has likely complicated life in your household — especially if you have one or more children at home. In some cases, your work-from-home job may seem impossible now that you’ve got kids at home with you all week long. While it certainly has its challenges, working full-time with kids at home can be done — and the following tips and resources will help you to do it!
Create a Healthy Work-Life Balance
To prevent burnout, minimize stress, and boost happiness while working remotely with your kids at home, it’s important to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
- Find a remote job with flexible hours that enables you to do what you love while remaining at home with your children. Several possibilities could include graphic design, writing, pet sitting, or virtual assisting, just to name a few.
- Make room at home for a dedicated office space. To work productively at home, you’ll need a peaceful office environment that separates you from the rest of your household.
- Learn how to work remotely with family at home during the workday. It may be helpful to wake up earlier than the rest of your household and create a daily schedule for everyone.
- Utilize reliable productivity apps and tools to minimize distractions, boost concentration, and get work done in less time.
Bring in Some Help to Simplify Your Days
Working from home doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bring in outside assistance if you need help with cleaning, childcare, and meal preparation. In fact, these types of services can make your life a whole lot easier — especially in a time like COVID-19.
- Hire a house cleaner to simplify life and free up some time in your days.
- How much does a maid service cost? Maid services cost around $167 on average, but specific fees depend on the type of cleaning you need, where you live, and whether you hire an independent contractor or cleaning company.
- Get help with childcare for all or part of the workday. Possible childcare options include a part-time nanny, mother’s helper, or babysitter.
- Pay for a meal delivery service during the workweek. Some great options for busy parents include Blue Apron and HelloFresh.
Keep Your Kids Entertained While You Work
Even if you’d love to spend the entire workday with your children, the fact of the matter is that working from home is harder than it sounds — and you can’t do it if you’re entertaining your kids all day. Here are some ideas for keeping your kids busy while you power through the workday.
- Invest in a few family tech devices to occupy your toddler, child, preteen, or teenager. While your kids shouldn’t spend the entire day on their screens, there are plenty of educational games and apps that can help keep your children entertained.
- Keep your kids busy with games, crafts, music, toys, books, and physical activity. Life of a Real Mom has a giant list of ideas to get the ball rolling!
- Assign a few age-appropriate household chores that need to be completed before you finish with work for the day.
- Pick up some basic ingredients and have your little ones make these kid-friendly recipes from the experts at Taste of Home.
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance isn’t always easy when you’re working full-time and raising a family, but these resources will help to make it possible. The happiness of you and your household will depend on it.
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