With National Working Parents Day Sept. 16, and 61% of parents saying they want to work remotely, FlexJobs is sharing the following career resources, tips, and best practices to support parents working from home for the first time––or anyone in need of a helpful refresh!
FlexJobs’ Career Coaching team is happy to discuss and offer advice on how working parents and job seekers can stay productive and achieve better work-life balance at home!
Thank you,
ShannaWorking From Home with Kids: Tips and Tricks for Every Age
The Baby Years
1. Don’t Go It Alone
As a work-at-home parent, you’re going to need childcare. Parents with flexible schedules or part-time jobs probably need part-time care. However, even without the commute, full-time employees will most likely need full-time care. While you can use a drop-off center, you could create a daycare alternative that works for you. Ask extended family to pitch in a few days a week, so you only need to use the center part-time, or consider sharing a nanny with parents around the neighborhood who are working part-time or flexible hours, as they may be willing to share the cost and time of a full-time nanny.
2. Nap Time Is Work Time
When the baby has a regular and predictable nap schedule, use that block of time to work as productively and efficiently as possible. Turn off your notifications and focus on your most intensive tasks. Or schedule your important meetings for that time. Whatever it is that you need to get done, capitalize on nap time, and use it to your advantage.
3. Consider Shift Work
Depending on how flexible your job is, consider shifting your work hours to times when the baby is sleeping. This could mean getting up earlier to get in an hour of two or work before the baby wakes up. Or, working for an hour or two after the baby is asleep for the night to finish things up. If you’ve got a partner in the house, try trading shifts with them and swap shifts when they need to work.
Toddler Time
1. Establish Boundaries
Toddlers test boundaries, so you’ll have to stick to yours and help your toddler understand what that means. If you didn’t already have a workspace set up, now is the time to do that. An office with walls and doors that close makes it easy to create a boundary between work and home, and to help your toddler understand that the office is for work and only work.
2. Explain How Work Works
Starting early (and repeating often) how work works can help your toddler understand that even though you’re at home in your office, you are at work, and you need to focus on that. And instead of just explaining how work works, show them how it works. If your job involves taking unexpected calls, conduct a practice drill during the weekend. Then, practice what would happen if it was a real client phone call and have your toddler stay quiet and start a puzzle, for example. Shower them with praise when they get it right, and keep practicing when they get it wrong.
3. Have Plan A and Plan B
It’s very unlikely your toddler will cooperate with your work plans all day every day. Your first line of defense is to have activity boxes at the ready. Art projects, glitter projects, science experiments, or family trees, are just a few ideas. As long as it’s something fun and age-appropriate, the possibilities are endless. Choose activities that require little to no supervision, though, so you’re free to work. If they’re getting bored with the box, break out your emergency backup plan B activity box full of unique one-off activities that you save for emergencies.
4. Take Breaks
Working from home doesn’t mean work, work, work. You’re entitled to take a break now and then. Make your break time kid time. Spend time doing the activity they want. It may mean you spend your 20-minute break with stickers on your face. But spending that time with your kid can do wonders to keep them happy and out of your hair for a few hours.
School-Age Kids
1. Work Flexibly & Take Work with You
Work flexibly when you can. Start work earlier in the day so you can end earlier, or work a little later that night if that means more time in the morning. Save yourself some time and work while they’re at soccer practice or dance class. You’ll be able to watch your kid do their thing and get some work done, too.
2. Plan Get-Togethers
Getting your kids together with their friends is a great way to get work done, but don’t think you have to send your kid to their friends’ houses every single time. It is possible to work when your child has friends over. They’ll be so busy entertaining each other, you may not even realize anyone else is there.
3. Share the Load
Eventually, daycare won’t be an option, but you still need help keeping your child entertained. When that happens, make connections with other stay-at-home working parents and create a childcare swap program. Partner up the kids based on ages and plan ahead to work with your schedule requirements to swap watching the kids.
5 Ways to WFH with Kids During Unexpected Emergencies
1. Communication Expectations
Make sure you proactively communicate with your employer that you’ve got kids at home and that you can’t guarantee every conversation will be interruption-free.
2. Assess Your Resources for Childcare Help
Consider who can help with your kids on-site. Friends, aunts, uncles, grandparents can be amazing resources, because they can help to arrange virtual playdates, read, and play games with your kids.
3. Prioritize Your Schedule
Look at what you have that is most important to not be interrupted for, and aim to schedule your most engaging/reliable activities for the kid(s) to be on their own during that time.
4. Stress Less
During “normal” times, you might monitor screen time and even limit it. But, working from home with kids during an emergency is different. Explain to them that this is a special circumstance, and it won’t last forever. And, when you’re done with work for the day, turn off the screens and switch to analog entertainment.
5. Get Creative
There may be times when you have to think creatively about where you work. If you don’t have an office, what do you do when you need some privacy during a client or work meeting? Can you use the basement, take calls in your car, or work from a walk-in or large closet? Any place with internet access can act as an office during an emergency.
For those returning to the workforce after a break or just looking to change to a full- or part-time role, FlexJobs has created the Ultimate Guide for Working Parents, covering everything from job search tips and career advice to the best WFH jobs, companies supporting working parents, and more!
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