Struggling to Work From Home With A Baby or Toddler or Both?
Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, many parents have been quickly shifted to working from home with no childcare. If you’re reading this post, there’s a good chance you are one of them.
Everyone’s work demands and family dynamics are different, but I do feel my 5 years as a work from home business owner and full time mom to 3 littles has given me some great learning experience. I’d like to share strategies of what has worked for ME…some or all may or may not work for you.
HOW I WORK FROM HOME WITH BABY OR TODDLER
MY WORK AT HOME WITH LITTLES STRATEGY #1
Do everything in your power to not plan on working when they’re awake. I’m just being honest…what you can accomplish in 90 minutes with an awake toddler or baby is what you could accomplish in 30 minutes of focused work. Not to mention how craptastic it feels to feel like you’re always only half-present. Not to mention how Hulk-tastic it feels when your kiddo bangs on your keyboard. This strategy leads me to:
Throw out a 9-5 schedule. Yes, there may be some calls or virtual meetings during regular work hours but where can you fit in kid-free “deep work?" Waking up 45-60 minutes early? Putting in an hour or two after kid bedtime? Putting on a show while your littlest naps so you can get 45-60 minutes of work time? 45-60 minutes here and there add up, friends. Remember: this is not forever. This is crisis management.
If you have a partner or other caregiver home with you, you have GOT to tag-team this operation. Please do not imagine you both in front of your computers while your kiddos play happily nearby. This is not how work at home parents operate.
As you’ll read in a moment, I do squeeze in some work tasks in the rare, unpredicatable moment when my kids are occupied. But let’s talk about the bulk of my work which is done in my kid-free work time.
MY WORK AT HOME WITH BABY OR TODDLER STRATEGY #2
Keep two work to-do lists: DEEP WORK TASKS and QUICK WORK TASKS. Quick work tasks are super-specific tasks that can be done in 2-10 minutes. When your kiddo is happily playing independently or eating or dozed off in your arms - you can claim a few minutes to knock out a quick task.
But here’s the thing, friends - you cannot count on these moments. You cannot plan them. If you do - they will not happen. It’s Murphy’s Law of working from home.
MY WORK AT HOME WITH YOUNG KIDS STRATEGY #3
If you’ve ever heard a homeschooling parents say they’re able to complete a day’s worth of school in just a few hours at home? The same can apply to working from home if you’re strategic.
My third strategy is to prepare to plow during your deep work time. Never sit down to work without a clear roadmap of what you’re aiming to accomplish. You want a clear plan to attack right when you’re available for deep work time.
Start with the big important tasks. The beginning of kid-free time at your workstation is for focused work, meetings, big projects - the meat and potatoes of your job.
And planning my next kid-free work session is always on my quick task list!
MY WORK FROM HOME WITH SMALL CHILDREN STRATEGY #4
Protect your planned work time. Trust me, it is a LOT easier to multitask doing dishes with a kiddo around than to work on a spreadsheet or composing an important team email with a kiddo around. You may think that switching the laundry to the dryer or calling to cancel your hair appointment will only take a minute but what it does is open you up for distractions that will cut into your precious worktime. It puts yourself in distractable mode.
MY WORK FROM HOME WITH KIDDOS STRATEGY #5
Save the Screentime for important virtual meetings or calls. If you’re anything like me, you’re trying to balance allowing more screentime because things are hard and weird right now with not wanting to park your kiddo in front of a screen. I advise against screens for babies but if you have a toddler or older, do your best to save Screentime for when you REALLY need peace and quiet.
I know some of you are providing telehealth calls or other virtual meetings almost all day. I honestly cannot imagine that. All I can say is to ask the others on your call if they are open to meeting at your kid-free times.
MY WORK FROM HOME WITH A BABY OR TODDLER STRATEGY #6
Be realistic and fair with yourself. I don’t know how many work at home parents you follow on social media but unless it’s part of our work / brand we are usually NOT the ones posting our gorgeously decorated and immaculately clean home. We’re not sharing complicated meal plans or interesting recipes. We aren’t posting our “outfit of the day” or makeup tutorials. - we are usually the ones in comfy clothes with unstyled hair serving spaghetti and frozen peas in a house that clearly looks like kids live there.
It’s not because we don’t wish we could do those things, it’s because we’re prioritizing other things. This may be what you have to do in the short term in order to work from home. It doesn’t make you any less wonderful as a person or a parent than you were when you worked outside the home.
Want more resources for encouraging toddler play?
Using my professional knowledge of toddler development plus my experience as a mom, I created a free video lesson sharing my 3 top tips (plus a bonus!) for increasing independent play in toddlers. Get access to the lesson here or click the image below.
