If children are raised and work from home due to sudden school closures or unexpected natural disasters, the combination of the two will not be easy. If you do not send your child to a daycare center or school, there is a burden of raising children, which can seriously impair the efficiency of work when working from home. In this article, we’ll show you 10 ways to increase productivity while successfully coping with working from home and parenting at the same time.
Here are few life hacks for moms who are working from home during Covid-19, As schools are not fully opened, Check how you can cope up with this scenario!
Secure a Work Space where you can Concentrate.
Since the work efficiency of working from home is affected by the space where you work, it is important to ensure that you have a space where you can focus on your work, such as when you go top work. Use a room that can be used alone or in a place where there is little access to family members as a work space.
If you don’t have enough space, it’s also a good idea to create an environment where you can focus on a part of the living room or bedroom. You can increase your concentration by preparing the supplies you need for work in advance so that you don’t have to empty your desk often.
Start Work Early in the Morning.
The biggest advantage of working from home is that commuting time is streamlined. Because it helps your child prepare for school or reduces the amount of time to go to work, you can work from home more efficiently if you use the free time flexibly. If you can flexibly adjust the working hours, it is a good alternative to put your child to bed a little later than usual, use the morning hours for work as much as possible, and complete the afternoon work a little earlier to secure time to spend with your child.
Prepare a Play for your Child to Play on his or her own.
It is difficult to focus on work if the child visits the mother and father at frequent intervals while working from home. It’s also a good idea to plan play for your kids to focus on in advance.
We prepare activities that children can enjoy on their own, such as simple origami, drawing, or reading picture books, so that children can enjoy quiet work hours. It is also effective to decorate the living room so that children can find what they need and play by dividing the living room into an origami corner, a reading corner, and a toy corner, like a classroom at a school where children attend.
If there is a conference call or video conference, check the conference time in advance, and prepare content that your child can watch at that time-TV or video service, or other play that requires concentration. This gives you time to focus on the meeting without being disturbed by your child.
Make a Regular Schedule for your Child’s Life.
It is not easy to give your child a play/study plan and check progress each time while focusing on work. Creating a regular life schedule can help each other, especially if you have to work from home for long periods of time and have to deal with your child on a daily basis. For example, if you plan various activities of different types on a daily/weekly basis, such as a school class, and prepare a checklist so that your child checks himself/herself at the end of the activity, you can engender active participation and concentration.
If you have an online class or school assignment, it’s a good idea to mark deadlines on the timetable so your child can take the lead in their daily routine. In addition, after the assignment, include time to develop creativity, such as origami or drawing, or set up a simple outdoor activity time during the parent’s lunch break to give the child free time to do his or her favorite outdoor activities.
Set Goals for your Child.
If you don’t attend school for weeks or months, you may be concerned about your child’s learning and progress. In this case, you need to do homework with correct instruction every day, and give homework and deadlines to help your child learn with a sense of purpose.
For effective parenting, it is necessary to take time to check the child’s homework together after completing the parent’s work. Checking your child’s progress in learning, as well as answering and confirming answers together, can help your child feel a sense of accomplishment, which is a great driving force to focus on the next goal.
If your child is of a self-learning age, getting your child’s help from homework in addition to studying can help you work from home effectively. If you ask for help with simple chores that your child may be able to do, such as putting dishes in the dishwasher, cleaning your own room, and opening the laundry, you can increase your child’s self-reliance and reduce the burden of household chores.
Reduce Housework Time as Much as Possible.
Every day, where 24 hours are scarce, it is also a good idea to reduce your housework time as much as possible. For example, if you buy groceries enough to go grocery shopping 2-3 times a week rather than grocery every day, use online shopping, and prepare side dishes for a week on the weekend in advance, you can reduce the time spent on housework on weekdays.
It is not enough to prepare meals during lunch time of less than an hour, to bring children’s lunch, and even clean up. It is also difficult to focus on work right after lunch break. Therefore, prepare one week’s groceries and side dishes in advance on the weekends or when there is time to avoid having to spend lunch and dinner after work. You can also spend this reduced housework time with your children.
Use your Nap Time.
If your child is of the age who still needs to take a nap, actively use his or her nap time as work time. If you do tasks that require concentration during your child’s nap time, you can reduce the chances of neglecting your child’s needs and help because of work when the child is awake, and you can manage work and parenting in a balanced way.
For online Meetings, Choose the Quietest Time Zone.
If you need an online meeting with a coworker or outside account, take advantage of the quietest times of the day so you can focus on the meeting. By setting the meeting time to a time in the morning when your child is sleeping or when you are focused on homework or play, you can prevent the situation where you are unable to focus on online meetings to take care of your child.
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Switch Between Spouse and Parenting.
If your spouse also works from home, you can efficiently work and child-raising if you set a time for child-rearing with your spouse and shift. When both couples have a balanced amount of time to focus on their work, they are both productive and less stressful.
Balance Work and Life.
Finally, the important thing about working from home is to balance work and life. Since telecommuting has no time and space constraints, working from home sometimes blurs the boundaries between life and life. In order to increase the productivity of work and child-rearing, it is important to separate work hours as much as possible, shut down the computer immediately after work, and use it for family time, such as checking housework and children’s homework.
