Work-from-home parenthood: Is it even doable?

Working from home has become increasingly popular over the last few years, and while not everybody does it, more people have chosen this arrangement for themselves than five years ago. It is also true that the development of tech solutions that can support the needs of all kinds of workers has helped tremendously as well, but there has also been a shift in workplace cultures and the things people find acceptable in office spaces or not.

However, remote work isn’t without its challenges. Finding a work-life balance can be more challenging, as you may become distracted from your work tasks and end up working overtime to complete them. You could also end up feeling isolated and disconnected from your co-workers, dealing with tech issues that you don’t know how to fix on your own, which can cause you to postpone your activities, cybersecurity risks, and, of course, disturbances around the home. If you have young children, you already know that being able to focus on something undisturbed is often a luxury. But it isn’t impossible to make remote work work for you. All you need is a little structure.

Set boundaries

Having a structure to your workday is incredibly important, even when you work from home. The flexible hours and the fact that you’re in a place where you can feel fully relaxed can cause you to become a little less disciplined than you would normally be. However, you need to practice discipline and stick to a schedule if you want your job to continue being rewarding. This includes finding a way to create a structure that meets the needs of both you and your children, one that doesn’t make them feel neglected, but also allows you to work in a quiet, stress-free environment.

The best thing to do is to talk to them and make them understand that your work is important and that you need peace and quiet to finish it. Make sure to see them a few times throughout the day, during break times, and have your lunch together every day if possible. Having set times of the day when you are together will reassure them. Ideally, the schedule should be discussed during the weekend so that they know what to expect. Doing this will also allow you to modify different aspects that may not fit your requirements or theirs, as well as find a middle ground where necessary.

When you are on a break and spending time with your children, give them your undivided, focused attention. Visually signaling that there are times when you cannot be disturbed helps as well. To do this, you can wear a pair of headphones.

Secure your accounts

Working from home means that all the important documents and files you work with have to be on your home computer, a feature that exposes you to potential cybersecurity risks. Ideally, you should have a separate computer when working from home, but that isn’t always feasible. If that is your situation, you should separate your professional computer work from your personal endeavors, but using a separate business email address is a must. The email you use for work should be encrypted in order to safeguard your privacy. Choose a service that is free from ads and entirely free, as you can be sure that it won’t utilize your data to create a customer profile for you. Additionally, ensure that the email service is compliant with strict privacy laws.

If your children use the computer as well, this is all the more important, as they can access websites that increase the risks of data breaches and malware. Make sure that they only spend time on secure websites that you are aware of. It is essential both for their safety and emotional well-being as well as for the integrity of your work files.

Creating the environment

Setting up certain boundaries is essential, but you must also establish a designated workspace. Just as wearing headphones can help children differentiate between times when you’re available to play with them and times when you really need to focus, being in an area dedicated to work is also important. The best scenario would be if you can have a separate room as a home office, but in smaller homes, this isn’t realistic.

Having a corner of your room as an office is more than enough as well. Children can understand that you’re entering work mode when you’re at your desk. Remember that the place where you work should promote concentration. It shouldn’t be noisy, and you shouldn’t have a lot of foot traffic around you since both can be very distracting.

Make the most of your time

Becoming sidetracked is inevitable, whether you work in the office or from home. The important thing is not to allow it to spiral out of control. Remember that being efficient and finishing things on time means you can also spend quality time with your child during the predetermined breaks, rather than missing out on them and risking making the child feel upset or like they’ve been forgotten. You can also schedule your tasks, if possible, depending on your children’s schedules as well.

For example, if they’re more likely to nap during certain hours, you can focus on the most demanding projects you have to complete during those hours. You can also use this as an opportunity to teach children how to play independently. It will have to be gradual, of course, and, in the beginning, you should only allow them to be unsupervised for very short amounts of time. Playing with them, leaving for five minutes, and then coming back can help build security and foster object permanence, the concept that objects exist even when they’re not visible.

To sum up, working from home can sound like a significant challenge when you have children, but it’s not at all difficult to get it right. To make sure you’re on the same page, make sure to talk to your children so that they understand how important it is for you to finish your work.

*This is a collaborative post