10 Tips to Successfully Managing your Kids While Working at Home. With the improvements in technology, abundance of online work opportunities and the advent of entrepreneurship mentality, more and more Nigerian mothers are becoming open to the possibility of working at home. Most women choose to leave the corporate world in order to have more time with their kids. The reality of working at home, however, isn’t as simple as just putting up your own business. This can be an easy one. The bigger questions are actually these: a) Once you have a work-at-home career going, how do you exactly spend quality time with your kids? b) How do you give them the attention that you want to give them, given that you quit your job to be with them, and juggle all the roles that you have? 1. Work smart, not hard. A big part of being able to spend time with your kids is working smart and being productive. So, honor your work hours by not wasting it on Facebook and Instagram. Turn off all alerts on your laptop and smartphone – or at least put them in silent mode – so that you can work steadily without distractions. Set your working hours, which may be in parts if you are a freelancer or a business owner. Working on your biggest and hardest tasks first to get it out of the way and saving the fun part – social media, maybe – for your downtime are tried and tested productivity tricks. 2. Respect your time with your kids. Working at home blurs the line between work time and home life. You can find yourself working at all hours if you’re not mindful of the time! So, it is crucial to put a hard stop to your working time. Just stop and spend some time offline with your kids and spouse. Set your alarm for specific periods of time to be with your kids and spouse so as to enjoy games, puzzles, movies, sports, snack and story telling together. 3. Get help. While some moms revel in a superwoman multi-tasking existence, however it wont be a bad idea to get help from even one household helper. Anyway, it’s okay if such a lifestyle is not for you. Don’t do everything yourself if you don’t want to, though you can certainly try! We’re lucky to be in the Nigeria where family is always willing to help and nanny services are reasonable. Choose your priorities and work on those areas. If you determined that you would rather spend your free time with your kids, then work on freeing yourself from tasks you’d rather not do. On the other hand, if making home-cooked meals for your family is your priority, then you might have to give up some other tasks. 4. Prepare quiet, independent activities. It is really hard to work with our children who demand that we spend every single minute with them whenever they see us. One-year old kids cannot be expected to play alone for longer than 15 minutes(You can ask Maxwell!) However, they can be trained to entertain themselves and not depend on grown ups for activities. Providing open-ended toys that they can play with while you work nearby is good practice. Make sure, of course, that his play area is childproofed. Kids ages 3 and up can be expected to be on their own for longer periods of time even without TV or gadgets. By providing a clean and uncluttered environment with blocks, pretend costumes, art materials, beads, and other open-ended toys, young kids can play on their own while you work. 5. Take breaks with them. One of the perks of working at home is you get to take breaks with your little people. Take advantage of this time to give them at least 15 minutes so they can recharge with your undivided attention. Prepare food and eat together, maybe even have a picnic on the floor! Be fun and creative even during small windows of time. 6. Establish a routine. A routine is very important in young children’s days as they get a sense of control over what goes on in their life. Establish a routine and try to keep to it everyday. This includes your work hours and your time together. Having a routine makes it easy for you to remind them that you are still working but will be with them when it’s “together time”. This will be something that they will look forward to and motivate them to keep themselves busy as they wait. 7. Do activities together. When you’re “off” work, even if your office is just one step away from your kids, plan to do something with them. You can even involve them in the planning so that they would look forward to it at the end of the day. It can be as simple as playing a board game or going to the nearby playground to unwind. If you need to tutor your kids for school, you may also do it during your off-hours. 8. Teach them rules and cues. There’s nothing as embarrassing as having a child screaming in the background while you talk to your client over the telephone or Skype. Establish rules of engagement, such as: A) No one can disturb you while you’re on the phone. B)Closing your bedroom door (or wherever you’re working) should also serve as a cue that you are not to be disturbed at any cost. Teach your child non-verbal cues too, such as the sign language for “stop” or “wait” that he will understand and follow. The Yorubas are very good at sending messages to kids using instructive gestures! Short reminders such as “working time” or “together-time later” will instantly remind your child to wait for when you can already spend time with her. 9. Stop feeling guilty. One of the best pieces of advice about managing your kids while working at home is to stop feeling guilty. We really can’t do everything to our satisfaction when we are juggling several things at the same time. Even if we set up systems and routines, things are bound to slip at some point and we run the risk of getting bogged down. Feelings of guilt should only be flitting, however, as the stirrings of it should lead you to the next tip. 10. Be flexible. If you feel that your routine is not working or that you’re unhappy with the time you spend working, then it might be the time to tweak your schedule. Sometimes, cleaning up your work area and the kids’ things can make things clearer and give you a much-needed restart. Find out what works for you and be ready to change things up. Your kids grow and their needs change, and you have to be flexible to make things right again. Managing your time, experimenting with how you can be more productive at work and spend quality time with your kids at the same time, forgiving yourself for perceived shortcomings, and being willing to adjust will go a long way in being able to make working at home work for you and your kids. Merry Christmas to all Families, especially Mothers!
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:30:09 +0000
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