11 Survival Tips for Working From Home With Kids
1. Set reasonable expectations for you and for them.
This is not normal. Don’t act like it is. It’s not reasonable to expect to sell this week what you sold this week last year. Today is not the day, this week is not the week, and this month is not the month, to be consumed with productivity. Give yourself grace. Give your kids more. This applies all the time if you work from home with kids there.
2. Chill.
If you’re a person who loves strict schedules and builds your color-coded calendar in 15-minute increments, I’ve got news for you: None of that is going to happen with kids in the house. And if that calendar is hard copy, it’s going to be covered in oatmeal, chocolate milk and applesauce by noon.
3. Netflix and iPads are not babysitters, but you might have to use them in a pinch.
I sincerely hope you don’t need this tip. But if I’m being honest, sometimes you need to use devices to distract the kids when you both need to work. Same goes for books, puzzles, games, etc.
4. Take turns.
Given current restrictions about public gatherings, you probably can’t take the kids out, but you can work in shifts, you can squeeze in time over the weekend, you can work at night, etc.
5. Ear plugs.
A tip from someone who has “worked from homeschool” for 20 years.
6. Buy an electric griddle and occasionally make grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for everyone.
You’ll be a hero. Plus, it will offset the times lunch will be a spoonful of hummus and a handful of crackers eaten over the sink.
7. Be sneaky.
While creating a game with your kids that gives them a task grab your computer or phone and write quick emails or texts, or make a to-do list, or anything that you can do fast.
8. Find unique places to work.
If you don’t usually work from home, you might not have a home office, and you’ll have to find a place to work. The kitchen table is OK if you like working inside a tornado. Your bedroom is OK if you think resting your eyes for five minutes and opening them two hours later is OK. Your couch is OK if by “working on the couch” you mean “watching a Harry Potter marathon.” Wherever you work, I recommend having a door to close. I also recommend telling the kids there is a rule against barging in without knocking and HA HA HA, that rule will never, ever, ever, not in a million billion trillion years, be followed.
9. Multitask.
Right now, you can’t take your kids to the park or the pool. But you can take them to your backyard and let them kick around a soccer ball while you sit in a lawn chair and work on mindless tasks—deleting old emails, filling out expense reports, cleaning the mess off of your color-coded calendar, etc. Those effortless things are good to do when you have to keep an eye on your kids so that your spouse can have his or her “deep work” time.
10. Leave.
Sometimes the best way to work from home is not to work from home. Granted, this is harder now than ever. But I have a trick that I used pre-coronavirus that still works today, even while following aggressive social distancing guidelines. When I have a problem to think through or brainstorming to do, I cram a lunch and laptop into my backpack, strap a chair to the outside of it and head to the nearest park.
11. Be flexible.
I saved the most important one for last. Boo-boos need kissing, socks need finding, the end of Harry Potter needs watching, preferably while cuddling. All of those are more important than the TPS report you are working on.