WFH Woes: How to work from home with your little one

By: Katherine Tredinnick, Research and Content at Devie

At the best of times, it’s tough to stay focused when working from home. There are snacks to be had, TV to be watched, chores to be done… Add little kids to the mix and we know that it can feel almost impossible to work from home! Our parent community asked for some tips on working from home with little ones, and we’ve got a few suggestions to make this time a little easier.

Make a schedule

Having a schedule is a great way to help you to feel more in control of your day and achieve more of your daily goals! By creating a schedule, you will be able to judge when you are likely to be most productive, for example, when it is nap time for your child, or after your little one falls asleep at night. In addition, schedules are a great way to ensure that you cover different developmental activities with your little one to keep them happy, active and learning at home.

Be transparent with your colleagues/boss

Juggling work deadlines and looking after one or more little ones is really no easy feat, especially if you are a single parent. Most people will acknowledge how challenging such a situation can be! So consider explaining your situation to your boss/colleagues. We hope that they will be understanding that certain hours of your day may be more productive than others and that certain tasks may be more appropriate than others, given your home situation.

Share responsibilities with others at home

This may go without saying, but if you live with a partner, another adult relative, friend or have an older child, it is a good idea to involve them in child-caring or household responsibilities. With this person, take responsibilities in turns by swapping between playing and looking after your little one, and doing work. Sharing caregiving responsibilities equally is always important, but even more so in these difficult times. If you’re a parent who doesn’t have the support of others at home, our thoughts are with you right now, and we are rooting for you!

Take a deep breath!

We know that juggling work and caring for little ones can be totally overwhelming even at the best of times. We encourage you to take some breaks in the day to keep take care of yourself. Your breaks could include a quick catch up call with a friend, soaking up a bit of sunshine in your neighbourhood (while maintaining a safe social distance!), or practicing some mindfulness.

Watch out for the Home Learning Programme on Devie’s free app on iOS or Android where you can find a sample routine you can adapt to your schedule, fun, research-based activities to do with your child, and some mindfulness exercises to keep you calm and present!

In these unprecedented and immensely difficult times, we know that parenting can feel tougher than ever before! There have been a few common questions on the minds of parents in our community, including:

• How much screen time is appropriate for my little ones?
• Should my family be trying to stick to some sort of routine?
• How do I, as a parent, stay calm and present in these tough times?
• How do I keep my family active during the lockdown?
• How do I get my work done with my little one at home all day?

In response to these questions, we created the Home Learning Programme to keep your little ones happy and learning at home during the lockdown. Through this programme, Devie sends you daily learning activities designed to support your little one’s social emotional, language, health, early literacy, and early math development, and your own wellbeing. Download Devie for free on iOS or Android to try the programme when it launches this week.

We’re also blogging about each of these topics this week to provide research-based, non-judgmental recommendations to help during these tough times.

Remember awesome parents, we are all in this together ❤

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