You’re in the middle of a business meeting and suddenly your son shows up and asks, “Dad, can you help me find my toy?”You tell him to wait a minute, but he insists, “No!Right now?. lead to a lot of frustration and nervousness. Therefore, there may be times when the home office with children seems impossible. However, there are ways to avoid these setbacks and/or intelligently handle any frustration.
It’s normal for you to feel a little disoriented during the first few days, the house suddenly becomes an office and a school. Therefore, it is practical to know how to manage this exceptional situation to be able to assume your professional responsibilities, have time to help your children in the classroom and be able to cook, wash clothes, clean, etc.
- The home office with children requires a plan that everyone respects and follows.
- When should I start working? When do children wake up?.
Answers to these questions, and a few more, will give you the tips you need to organize your day and avoid interruptions while you work. However, we are talking about children, so you should be flexible.
On the other hand, you can set a clear schedule, but with the children at home and with a low level of control, it is normal that unforeseen events happen and they must be fixed, if the children are old enough you can arrange with them five minutes every hour to answer their questions.
Finally, even if everything is agreed and the children have agreed to stick to the schedule, it is normal for an unforeseen interruption to occur, there is the challenge: to maintain a positive attitude, at the right time, breath control can be your best ally.
In the home office with children, you will not be able to work eight hours in a row. You’ll need to adjust the time available to work with your children’s schedules to avoid these interruptions. You may want to get up early to get the job. This should be decided as to how the level of activation of children fluctuates during the day.
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your agenda, but to plan your priorities. “- Steven Covey-
That’s another essential point. For the home office with the children to be possible, it is necessary to reach an agreement. The book Practical Guide to Mental Health in Disasters makes one thing very clear: “Children understand that situations are difficult. “In other words, they behave better when they understand what’s going on and why it’s important that they do their part as well.
You need to have an open conversation with them, explain what’s going on, why they need to stay home, and explain that there will be times of the day when you’ll need it to do quiet activities or where they won’t need your help.
So while they may complain at an exceptional time, they’ll know you’re working and be more careful not to bother.
Separation of spaces is an excellent option for each part of the house to be given to a specific activity, for example, in the area where you work there should be no interruptions in the established schedules, there will also be the part of the house where the children will study and do their homework.
At this point, you can propose a kind of game in which children feel involved, in this way, inside the house, they will be able to find out where Mom or Dad works, the area corresponding to the school, where they need to concentrate and the playground. As a result, making an office at home will be much easier.
“All the most important learning in life happens while you play. ” -Francesco Tonuci-
In addition to everything we have mentioned so that you can reconcile the office at home with the care of the children, you can not forget that the separation of spaces should help you spend quality time with them. Does this mean you can play with them, talk, read?A story together? It’s important that you do it to make them feel cared for.
The newspaper La Vanguardia shared the diary that an 8-year-old boy began writing early in detention because of COVID-19, an activity that allows the child to talk about his feelings, his experiences and attribute colors to his emotions. a rewarding job that can be interesting for you to do with your kids.
How have you managed to reconcile home office with child care so far?