FlexJobs Offers 11 Tips for Working From Home With Children During Emergencies

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies are sending their employees home to work, while schools and daycares are also closing nationwide. As of March 15, public schools across at least twenty-nine states have closed, with more states likely to follow. For many parents, this means working from home while their children are also present. To help working parents adjust to these new and unusual conditions, FlexJobs is highlighting eleven tips for parents working at home with children during emergencies. 

“With social distancing helping to slow the spread of coronavirus, many families are suddenly finding that not only are they working from home, but their kids are at home, too,” said Sara Sutton, Founder & CEO of FlexJobs. “Whether you’ve worked from home for years or if you’re completely new to remote work, these circumstances are incredibly challenging. Of all the distractions that may affect emergency remote working, children are likely going to be the most persistent and insistent. As a working mom myself whose kids will be home for a period of time, too, I know we are all doing the best we can right now to juggle all of our important responsibilities,” Sutton said.

Although nothing is going to make working from home with children easy, there are some strategies and tactics that might help manage a little better. Below are eleven suggestions on how to mitigate the challenges of working from home when children are also present. They are elaborated on here: https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/working-from-home-emergency-kids/ 

1. Communication & Expectations: First of all, proactively communicate with your employer that your children are at home, so, unfortunately, you cannot guarantee your work or work calls will be interruption-free.

2. Assess Your Virtual Resources for Childcare Help: Think of friends, aunts, uncles, grandparents, babysitters, teachers. These people are amazing resources because you can use them to arrange virtual playdates for your kids. They can talk, read, play games, sing, do dances, and much more.

3. What Activities Can You Plan Without Supervision? Different activities will apply to different age groups, depending on your schedule and the age of your children. Below are examples

• Babies:
  • Naps, swings, bouncy chairs
  • Shows or videos such as Baby Einstein or whatever you trust
  • Listen to songs
• Toddlers through elementary:
  • Favorite shows and/or related online games – look online to see if that show has related games. PBS has many options.
  • Educational games and apps
• If they’re older:
  • Reading, writing stories
  • Educational, positive, or inspirational shows or movies – Nature, America’s Got Talent, Funniest Home Videos, etc.
  • School platforms
  • Minecraft or activities that keep them social online with their friends.

4. Prioritize Your Schedule: Aim to schedule your most engaging/reliable activities for the kid(s) to be on their own during the time you need to be most productive. 

• If you have a partner, and if your work allows, you may consider split shift work. So one person watches the kids in the morning while the other works, and visa versa in the afternoon. This can better guarantee at least some hours where your focus is purely on work.
• If you’re a single parent, clearly communicate expectations to both your kid(s) and your employer. Carve out hours of the day when you’re available for calls or virtual meetings, and be sure to let children know what to expect from you, as well.

5. Set Boundaries: Try explaining to your children that working-from-home means you really are trying to do work. While it may seem like a regular weekend or a vacation day because you are all at home, these are highly unusual circumstances. 

6. Reward Good Behavior: Working from home with kids in an emergency means maintaining harmony however possible, and this includes setting up a reward system for them when they follow directions.

7. Take Mini Breaks: Consider temporarily changing your style of working. Instead of tackling a project for three hours, you will need to break up the day more to give your children the attention they need. Honor the fact that their attention spans are short, so your work will likely need to be done in chunks. Expect that you may need to continue working after they’ve gone to bed or wake up earlier in the morning to get more uninterrupted hours in. 

8. Plan Activities: If you can find the time, try to create activity boxes that contain games, puzzles, etc that require minimal adult supervision. This could help keep them occupied.

9. Have a Plan B: Have a back-up activity jar ready to go for when the activity boxes become boring.

10. Stress Less: Under normal conditions, many parents may limit screen time.  It is worth considering adding to their daily screen time allotment to buy you more work time. Just explain to them, though, that it is a temporary adjustment.

11. Get Creative with Office Space: Any place in the house with Internet access can act as an office during an emergency, especially for when you have to ensure calls are uninterrupted. If at all possible, try to find a space with a door that can be closed. Creating physical boundaries can help reinforce the message that you need to be working.

You can also take a look some free lance jobs here.

About FlexJobs

FlexJobs is a premium online job service for professionals seeking flexible work, specializing in full-time and part-time remote jobs, employee and freelance jobs, and on-site jobs with flexible, part-time, and alternative schedules. Since its start in 2007, FlexJobs has helped more than 4 million people in their job searches and has created the largest vetted database of legitimate flexible job opportunities in over 50 career categories. In addition, FlexJobs provides robust career support, including curated expert resources and career coaching services, to partner with job seekers in all phases of their journey. A trusted source in the media, FlexJobs has been cited in top national outlets such as CNN, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNBC, Forbes, and many others. FlexJobs’ Founder & CEO Sara Sutton has also launched two additional partner sites, Remote.co and 1 Million for Work Flexibility, to help provide education and awareness about the viability and benefits of flexible work. Sutton is the creator of The TRaD* Works Forum (*Telecommuting, Remote, & Distributed), dedicated to helping companies leverage the benefits of telecommuting, remote and distributed teams.