7 Steps to Having a Child-Safe And Productive Workplace at Home

Are you finding it impossible to work from home with kids around the house?

Don’t worry.

In this article, you’ll learn seven steps to help you create a child-safe and productive workplace at home.

Keep reading to learn more.

Working from home with kids around the house is no easy task.

Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced thousands of parents to work remotely.

More than 69,000 schools in the U.S. have been shut down and office workers have been asked to work from home while keeping social distancing.

This means that parents will have to look after their kids while still taking care of their office work at home.

It can be troubling for those who had not been prepared for the transition to remote work.

Read these work from home tips for parents then experiment with what works for you.

1.   Be An Early Riser

They say the early bird catches the worm and this is exactly true for work-from-home parents.

Make sure by the time your kids get up or before you get started with your office work, you have done several tasks.

This can be achieved by creating a morning routine.

Make sure you get up early, complete the important household tasks, take shower, and prepare breakfast.

This will help to avoid going back to do your morning chores when you’re supposed to focus on office work.

2.   Share Responsibilities

When it’s time to work from home, each parent needs to take the responsibility to take care of the kids.

This is especially important if both of you are working remotely.

The first thing you need to do is to discuss how you’re going to make your office work while taking care of the kids.

For instance, you could decide that when one partner gets to work early in the morning, the other one prepares breakfast while doing other household chores.

In a nutshell, you need to discuss who should do what at what time while the other person is doing what.

This will help to enable both of you to work productively at home.

3.   Let Your Kids Know When You’re Busy

This can be challenging if your kids are too young but if they are school-aged, then you could let them know when it’s time to give you enough time to do your office work.

While it’s not advised to allow your kids to watch more TV every time, you may want to allow them to do so if that could help you get enough time to accomplish your professional roles.

Find something that can keep them busy so you can focus on your office work. You could allow them to play more games or do other things so they don’t disrupt your office time.

4.   Create a Dedicated Workspace

There are many reasons why we have workplaces away from our homes. And the first reason is that it’s possible to focus on the work at hand when you’re less distracted.

You can mimic the same and create a dedicated workplace at home.

Make sure you set up a workspace close to your kids’ playroom so you can monitor them while doing your office work.

The last thing you want to see is your kids getting into danger while you’re busy.

Also, make sure kids can’t get into your workspace as that could keep you from concentrating.

5.   Schedule Your Day

If you want to be productive while working at home with kids, then you need to plan your day really well.

This will help to avoid distractions from kids so you can focus on your office work.

A good way to plan your day is to create a to-do list of the things you’re going to do the whole day. You can either write down your things-to-do or use a dedicated to-do-list app. There are many you can get on the internet today.

According to coursework writing experts, creating a to-do list will help to keep you reminded about your daily tasks which could help to accomplish them within the specified time.

Your to-do list could include all the meetings you’re going to have with other staff as well as clients, and every important task you’re required to complete before the end of the day.

As a rule, you need to create a daily, weekly, and monthly to-do list because no one s sure when the COVID-19 will go away.

6.   Communicate With Other Staff About Your Situation

Unless you tell your colleagues or employer you’re working from home while taking care of your kids failing to complete assigned tasks can make you look unprofessional.

You want to make sure everyone, including other staff, your bosses, and everyone concerned knows that you have kids to take care of while working remotely.

7.   Take Frequent Short Breaks

While you will want to overextend yourself to get things done within the specified time, you also need to know that kids need your attention. For that reason, you need to take breaks and give some time to your kids.

See, even if you have created a dedicated workspace close to your kids’ playroom where they cannot reach you, they need you to be close to them from time to time otherwise, they will refuse to stay in their playroom.

Taking frequent breaks is also beneficial to your health.  Close to 90% of American workers admit that taking breaks helps to keep them refreshed and re-energized.

You don’t need to take a lengthy break. After every going hard on a task for one hour, you can take at least 10 minutes out to have fun with your kids, play, or take a meal with them.

You could even take a few minutes to give them an interesting story. This will help them feel loved and taken care of so they will not distract you when you get back to work.

Additional steps for working productively from home with kids…

Make Use of Your Kids’ Nap Time

Allow your kids to sleep during the day.

Often, kids love taking naps and this could give you some good time to work on the important tasks before they get up.

Sleeping during the day even if for 2 hours is beneficial for your kid’s physical health and mood.

This is also the best time for you to do things that matter the most.

You must make sure you avoid using this precious time doing unimportant things like opening social media or chatting with friends on phone.

Prepare Yourself for Sudden Situations

You’re going to encounter unexpected situations while working from home with kids. Kids like to play around with their parents so you can expect to be hit with a ball when you are in a video meeting.

For that reason, you need to be prepared on how to handle such unexpected situations when they happen.

You could keep your kids from distracting you by giving them toys to play with as you do your office work.

Take Advantage of Technology

If it were not for the latest technology, remote working or working from home wouldn’t be possible during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Take advantage of gadgets or apps that allow you to work remotely and productively even when you have kids to take care of.

You could install a video baby monitor or 360-degree cameras to monitor your kids when you’re working in your dedicated workspace close to their playroom.

Final Thoughts

To have a child-safe and productive workplace at home when working from home with kids is no easy task.

The steps shared in this article have been used by professional remote workers who have brought up kids while working from home.

None of these tips is going to disappoint you. Just adopt them and they will work great for you.

Happy working from home with kids!

 

Author Bio

Jessica Chapman is a freelance journalist with over 10 years of working from home. She is also the brain behind the best essay writing service UK blog.Having struggled working from home with kids during her initial years, Jessica is committed to sharing helpful tips she used to keep her productive while taking care of her kids. Find her on Facebook.