The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic has changed our lives in personal, family, and work matters. For this reason, it is time to innovate and work from home, overcoming any challenge. If we have children, the challenge is even greater, and we must overcome it. Many moms see working from home as an opportunity to be more attentive to their children.
This article will give you some tips to work from home being with children and show how to balance your life between work and your work at home. Don’t forget though that just because you’re working from home, you’re still protected by employment law. Whether you’re in New York or Philadephia, Wrongful Termination Lawyers can help when things go wrong.
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Table of content:
- Set a Predictable Routine
- Define a specific place for your work
- Use your time well
- Seek help when needed
- Define moments to rest
- Take care of your health
- Create activities for your children
- Take advantage of the children’s naps
- Free yourself from guilt
- Eat meals together as a family
- Benefits of working from home
Working from home when you are a mother adds another level of difficulty to the daily routine, but you will be able to overcome it with practical tips for moms in trouble.
If you are working at home for the first time, you may face some difficulties or uncertainties. These tips help you to overcome the challenges:
Set a Predictable Routine
For some people, the prospect of staying in pajamas all day is the most tempting aspect of working from home. But showering and getting dressed will not only improve your mental state but will also prepare you psychologically to start working. The important thing is to get rid of the pajamas from the moment we get up – this way, our body, and mind will remain active and working from home.
Having breakfast at similar times as when you used to go to the office helps your body and mind maintain the usual rhythm. Also, include in your routine the time you will spend with your children and housework. But the schedule can also be flexible if it’s necessary.
Define a specific place for your work
The space in which we work can define to a great extent the quality of our work. Make sure that the area you have chosen to work from home is dedicated only to this purpose. It will maintain your concentration and will allow you to organize your work better. Having quick and reliable internet is a must, use the wifi speed test to ensure you do.
Look for the materials that you will necessarily use in your workspace, agendas, calendars, notebooks, pens, stopwatches, and whatever you consider that may be useful to you. Anything that is not useful is preferable that you do not have it in your work area.
The members of your family must respect your workspace and don’t interrupt you if it’s not so necessary.
Use your time well
If you were in an ordinary office, you could not spend the whole day talking on the phone or checking your social networks, and if you want your work from home to work well, you must avoid these distractions as much as possible. Remote work requires the same dedication and commitment as any other job. That is, you must deliver the same results, but this time from home.
Remember that it is not good to play with your children while you work or to work while you play with your children. When you combine two unrelated activities, you will lose focus. When you are at the office, focus on the task at hand and don’t allow yourself distractions.
If you have some additional tasks or activities or need to combine study and work, you should find different ways to save your time. For example, when you have to prepare a college work or an essay instead of sitting till midnight, you can ask yourself, “Who can write my paper for cheap?” That helps you to save your time and energy.
Seek help when needed
Sometimes the workload is heavy, and time is challenging to allocate between family, home, and work. When necessary, ask someone to give you a hand with some of these tasks. The idea is not to overload yourself and fill yourself with stress.
Learn to delegate tasks both at work and at home, don’t overload yourself, and the results could be devastating, and your time will not be enough for your job or your family.
- Having help around the house, even a couple of days a week lightens the load a lot.
- Ask for help from grandparents, friends, people willing to help, don’t limit yourself!
- Talk to the family and explain that you are working when you are at home because you tend to take care of all the errands.
- Don’t put washing machines on while you are working.
- Ask for help also at work – you don’t have to do everything yourself: personal assistant, design, answering emails, etc.
Define moments to rest
It’s not just about work. Naturally, you may need time to move around, clear your mind, and stretch all your muscles. Take advantage of the fact that you have the autonomy to decide when you will rest. Recharge your energy, return to work much more motivated, and share time with your children and partner.
It is essential to take regular breaks, get up from your desk and move around as you would in an office. Apply the Pomodoro method, a time management method that divides your workday into 25-minute blocks, followed by 5-minute breaks. It is important to stop, stretch, move, and even take a short walk to break from work and the screen.
Take care of your health
Eat well, try to have an exercise routine, and always take care of your posture when working. Don’t be stingy with the time you dedicate to self-care; dedicate several days or moments of the day to sharing with your family. Don’t forget about yourself.
Reserve time for yourself, take a hot shower, take a nap, but don’t leave yourself in the last place because everything else will suffer as well.
Create activities for your children
When you give your children an hour of quality time, you will have more time for your work. A happy child will be able to explore and create freely with the tools you provide. When you provide them with the means to have fun and entertain themselves, they won’t interrupt you.
Some of the activities you can offer them are small projects, artwork, and, why not, a household craft. Everyone must develop their role at home, and our children can help in the order and cleanliness of the home.
Take advantage of the children’s naps
When you plan your daily schedule, place the most complex jobs during your children’s nap times. It will be a time when you can concentrate and devote all your efforts to a single activity. When the children are awake, you can do mechanical tasks that do not require much cognitive work.
Although it is difficult to separate your professional profile from the chores of motherhood, it is possible to do so. Again, keep in mind that the keys are discipline and proper time management. Always take care of your well-being to become a successful entrepreneur and a happy mother.
Free yourself from guilt
Sometimes things just don’t seem to move forward; you’re further behind on office to-dos than your co-workers, and you barely see your kids. We are constantly bombarded with images and ideas of what a perfect mother should do.
We must get that idea of perfection out of our heads and accept that sometimes things don’t go as expected and that this is normal. Remember that there are many reasons to be a working mother among them, it may be to survive, for your children to have a future, perform in something that interests you, or, why not, be happy.
Free yourself from prejudice and distribute your time in your way.
Eat together with family
After the workday is over, it is essential to share a meal as a family, which is beneficial for all group members’ spiritual, mental, and physical well-being. Families whose members eat together have lower drug abuse rates, teen pregnancy, and depression, and better grades, and more self-confidence.
Eating together helps keep the family together and committed to each other. It can become one of the most enjoyable parts of the day for both children and parents.
Finally, we will talk about the advantages of working from home to inspire you:
- You can organize your schedule to distribute your time between your mom and professional duties.
- Remember that you will practically be your boss, so you could enjoy the flexibility of not having to commute to an office and being able to cuddle your baby as often as necessary.
- You won’t miss important moments of your baby’s first words, first steps, leisure time, and behavioral development.
- You can take care of something as significant as breastfeeding. And in case you are still breastfeeding, you won’t have to force weaning for work reasons.
- You will enjoy every moment with your baby.
Choosing to work from home is now an option – you have better income, quality time with your family, and learn work and family planning. You just have to take on the challenges with willingness and enthusiasm. Everything will flow as long as you are busy and organized.
