Read about handy ways to keep your career and parenting responsibilities well balanced when working from home.
Flexible working popularity increases and the Corona virus has meant a lot of parents are working from home, at least some of the time, over the last 12 months. Some 13% of parents want things to go back to ‘pre-pandemic times’ when it comes to work, but many others have come to like at least some aspects of working from home whilst being a parent.
If you’re in a position of parenting and working from home and you are finding it challenging, try out these handy tips to make your life as easy as possible:
1. Be Even More Flexible
As a parent you already have to be flexible and work around your child’s needs. Now you work from home too, you have to be even more flexible. There will be no specific system to suit every family.
Instead, creating something that works for your family and staying open to change will stand you in good stead. It’s particularly helpful when your employer is on board as that will give you the most leeway to switch things up as and when you need to.
2. Get Yourself A Working Fro m Home Space
A space to work is so important when working from home. It only has to be the corner of a room if you are short on space, or you have younger children you need to watch whilst you work. Ideally though, a home office would be great. It gives you the setup you need to do your job well, and a place to leave behind when you want to leave work behind for a bit.
If you find you want to create more space in your home quickly, cheap self storage can be handy. Cheap self storage, especially flexible self storage, gives you the ability to quickly store spare furniture and create the working area you need at home.
3. Be Really Wise With Your Time
You have your children around which means that the time you are working is very precious. Get the hardest and most important tasks done first, and consider which of those needs your undivided attention AKA the children’s nap time.
4. Get Some Space
Time to yourself is even more important now because you have no time away from your responsibilities. Do take the kids out for a walk in nature for ten minutes. Do let your partner have the kids whilst you get some time out. Try and avoid using down time to complete extra work.
Burning out is bad for the kids and bad for your career – you deserve and need some me time.
5. Share
If you are working from home at the same time as your partner, share the responsibilities and work a schedule where you both get to get your work done and spend time with the kids. This could allow you both time to focus on tasks without having your focus stretched and it enables the kids to get more time with both of you, which is great.
The tips above won’t solve all your parenting from home problems, but they can help you feel a little bit more in control of a really tricky situation. If you find the right way of working, you could find this is something you want to continue into the future for a much better work/ life balance overall.
