How to Work From Home, Keep Your Kids Occupied and Other Ideas
We are living in strange days where the idea of staying at home has become a form of community service. It’s so contrary to our motto of ‘living in the light’- of getting outside, exploring, traveling, socializing. Everything has a season though and I try to remind myself that this too shall pass. This too shall pass. This too shall pass.
What else can you do but repeat that gentle refrain? Especially while you hear the anxiety in everyones voices and see the concern mounting in people’s faces. We are heading into March break and people are worried about losing all the money they’ve paid for their travel plans. All the schools in our area will be shut down for a total of three weeks and people are scrambling for any kind of child care. People are worried about their jobs and their paychecks and their bills.
In short, people are worried about a wave of something unknown coming our way and rightfully questioning whether our social fabric and personal lives are strong enough to withstand it.
Those are some pretty legitimate reasons to worry. I’m not minimizing them. Our Headquarters remain open and we have staff going in until further notice. However, I am working remotely from our office and have done so for many years. My husband and I are especially lucky that we share working together and childcare duties for our infant son. Meanwhile, we’ve got three weeks of our 4 year old daughter being at home with us while schools are closed. A bit daunting but manageable.
For the next couple of weeks at the least, there are going to be a slew of people working from home, participating in work-share programs with reduced hours, or having to stay home with their kids during the school closures. I’m not trying to pretend to have much in the way of counsel for those big ticket sources of anxiety. I am a pro though at working from home so I thought I could share my two cents about best practices. Working from home can actually be tough mentally if you are not used to it. If you also have to add taking care of a young one, there is the practical problem of filling time. So here are my best tips for staying sane and for finding ways to entertain.
Structure Your Day:
My husband laughs at me because if it’s 9:05 am on a weekday and I’m not sitting at my desk, starting my work day, I get antsy. The point is I keep my daily routine fairly consistent during the week. I make sure to change my clothes, shower, wash my face etc. as though I might go in to the office at some point. I find the alternative depressing.
For those who might have to stay home either for work or to be with your kid, I recommend trying to keep some routine going. Get up at the same time. Change your clothes. Make your bed. We’re going to write up and post a daily schedule for our daughter who is used to a routine at school. My daughter loves to play pretend school so we’ll write it up on a chalkboard and keep some things she is used to like a consistent snack time, outdoor play and lunch time.
Prioritize: Choose 2-3 Strategic Overall Objectives and Keep a Daily To-Do-List for Tasks that require Execution
When we had our son a year ago and I continued to work from home right after, I knew time was going to be short. I remember being so frazzled after having my daughter the first time round. This time- I chose 3 things to focus on as a family. We were going to have clean clothes, clean bodies and eat decent food. If those three things got accomplished then I would not feel guilty about anything off-list, i.e. I didn’t stress that our house looked like a war zone etc. I’m also a big fan of keeping a list (I personally like the ones that help you organize a bit like this one) by my bed and desk so that I can write things that need to get done as I think of them. You then feel great when you get to tick them off as they get done.
I’ve found this daily to-do-list is also helpful when you work from home. It gives your day purpose and without it I feel like I didn’t accomplish anything.
Our strategic family objectives for these three upcoming weeks are: to make a plan and structure for the weekdays and get some outdoor time. I want to be on the same page as my husband so we can hand off the kids to each other as need be while getting our work done as best we can. It also means we give ourselves a pass if our daughter gets more screen time and is bored some times. We’re going to do our best but we are not aiming for perfection.
Do something that facilitates day dreaming:
I get great joy out of planning trips. I like researching where we would stay, eat and do. It’s my great joy in life to read as much as I can and find off-the-beaten-path places to stay. I know that a lot of people are anxious about their current travel plans but traveling will resume at some point. Until then, read up on places you will one day visit. I read Cup of Jo City Guides for fun, I watch this on Youtube for restaurant ideas for different cities, and I follow these people on Instagram for ideas of where to stay with kids.
My daughter loves a show called Fancy Nancy on Disney. The little girl loves French so I’ve made a pact with my daughter that if she can be fluent in French by the time she is in Grade One, we’ll go to France for a trip. It’s a really really long term plan but we both get a kick out of it and talking about the stuff we’ll do. It’s also motivation to practice. While she is home, we’re going to be playing student/teacher and do our Phonics reading program (which is working really well!) and then maybe do a little French lesson later in the day. Local libraries have tons of great on-line resources from magazines and books. I’ve also downloaded the app Duolingo for some free educational screen time that we’ll let our daughter do when we need some quiet time to get other things done. For those looking to invest into learning a language, not just for the next couple of weeks, supposedly Rosetta Stone has gotten more affordable and can be used for kids. Going to look into it!
Self-Care:
As a mom with a young son, the notion of self-care actually makes me a little mad sometimes. It’s frustrating that things like an hour long yoga class aren’t feasible for the moment when my husband and I are tackling everything together with our extended families living further away. I actually don’t consider things like skincare and applying sunscreen as self-care. It’s equivalent to brushing your teeth. I do find though that doing little things that are one step above pure maintenance do make me feel of all things more productive and therefore give a little mood boost. For instance, brushing your teeth equals maintenance. Using teeth whitening strips equals self-care. Basic skincare equals maintenance. Using this hand held red light device that my mom bought be for the face feels a little fancy and special. Self-care doesn’t have to be elaborate- just one notch about your every day normal.
Entertainment:
Anyone else google ‘things to do with your kid while at home”? I looked it up on Pinterest so I can fail spectacularly at trying to recreate things. I’m not crafty and baking is hit or miss for me. I’m going to need some fresh ideas though so here are some links. I’m also thinking of fashion shows (where my daughter and I try on all of our dresses, spa time where we do each other’s nails, tea time in the ball gowns we are going to try on).
Funnily enough, I think us adults are going to need some help too. With no televised sports to watch, the pressure is going to be on Netflix and Disney+ to help satisfy our cravings. Again though, don’t forget your local libraries on-line resources. They have magazine and movie subscriptions and e-books. I’m also going to brush up on my favourite blogs from The Skincare Edit and Cup of Jo. If you feel like geeking out on sunscreen, our own co-founder The Sunscreen Doc will tell you all you’ve ever wanted to know.
Service to Others:
As we’ve mentioned at the top, staying at home for the next little while is the best kind of community service you can do for most of the public. A special thank you should be given to those who need to continue going to work at this time to continue essential services and maintain our infrastructure. Those are our front-line staff like healthcare workers, firefighters, public administration but also grocery stores employees etc. We also have to think about the elderly that COVID-19 disproportionately affects. It’s probably best not to visit if it is not 100% necessary but either a phone call or a Facetime on a regular basis might be a big help, i.e. if you are used to only calling on birthdays and holidays, try calling every day for the next couple of weeks, knowing people are going to be more isolated. Depending on how tech savvy someone is, helping them get set up to do on-line grocery shopping, using Amazon, UberEats, getting them an Audible account might all be helpful. I’m pretty sure my mom is rolling her eyes at me right now…”I know how to use UberEats, Sara”….as she phones my sister to ask her to how to do it one more time.
In any case, stay safe and be well my friends. Remember, everything has a season and say it one more time…This too Shall Pass.
