Managing work with a small baby really gets tough at times. We often think that working from home is a golden opportunity as it allows us to stay to close to our family and the little one. But balancing the work and personal life together under the same roof is incredibly challenging. Parents with the work-from-home fantasy imagine keeping their babies at home and managing the life between calls and emails simultaneously.
Working from home has amazing benefits but having kids around throughout the day may put you in difficult situations. If you are opting for working from home without putting your children in daycare, here are some tips that you must consider.
#1. Make a Routine: Having a consistent routine with kids around is next to impossible. But when you are working from home, you must follow a consistent routine. You must know and decide when to focus completely on your work and when to give 100% to your child. Parents often plan an energetic and busy morning with their young ones to get a peaceful afternoon. Many parents prefer blocking a few evening hours after their partner gets home to take care of the kids.
#2. Divide the time : Working from home with kids may not allow you to finish your tasks in one sitting. It can become difficult to start a task and finish it before the deadline. Dividing the time for various tasks will help you out to maximize the output. Instead of taking a 60 minute long break, you may take short breaks of 15 minutes and get your tasks done on time.
#3. Organise a physical workspace: Having little ones at home will put you into a situation when you will find yourself toting your laptop back and forth from the kitchen to the playroom. You will have a mobile workspace than a traditional office. But still, you must have an organised desk and a fixed workspace where you can keep all your belongings and concentrate on work. Create a physical office to keep your work material and when your little one is taking nap you can concentrate on some serious work.
#4. Grab a cheap childcare: If you are working from home with a kid, having a conference call or a main deadline can be stressful. To avoid this situation, opt for affordable childcare where you can keep your baby and concentrate on your work. You can select the dates in advance and ask someone from neighbourhood to take care of your baby on those dates. Or you can consider looking for drop-in childcare centres or preschools, where you can sit in the lobby and utilize your time working from there.
#5. Be Transparent to your Boss: Sharing your routine with your boss can alleviate some serious stress. You need not to share the complete detailing but sharing the whole day plan with your colleagues and boss will help you out. Knowing your schedule, they won’t keep the important meetings at odd timings and hence you can give your 100% in work.
Good luck to all the working-from-home parents.
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