How to work from home with kids and stay productive

1. Focus On The Big Picture
Do your best to focus on weekly goals rather than daily goals, as the day can be unpredictable. On some days, your kids will play together quietly, you’ll get lots done and you’ll feel focused and relaxed. On other days, you’ll find yourself mediating sibling fights, mending scraped knees & pleading with your little ones to stop using the pots and pans as a drum set.
2. Have a Clearly Defined Office Space
Work in a room where you can close the door and let your kids know not to interrupt you. It can be a dedicated home office, or simply a spare bedroom with a desk in it. The most important thing is having a lock on the door.
If your children are old enough to play unsupervised, let them know that they should only knock on your office door if there is an emergency. (An emergency more serious than wanting a cookie, or a turn with the TV remote, of course)
3. Work In Small Bursts
Divide your work up into small tasks that can be done while the children watch a TV show, or take a nap. You might not be able to work on a large project for three hours interrupted, but you’ll be able to get chunks of work done throughout the day.
Small tasks don’t seem like much at the time, but they will move you forward. A great way to take advantage of small periods of time is to use the Pomodoro Technique. Developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s, this time management method has been shown to improve focus. It requires you to decide on a task, set a timer for 25 minutes, then work only on that task for the designated time.
4. Look for Time-Saving Measures in Your Work
Since you have less time than usual to work, this is the time to employ any possible productivity measures that will save time.
Here are some useful apps for making your workflow more streamlined:
▶️Text Expander: If you find yourself writing the same thing regularly, use this app to quickly insert “snippets” with a simple keyboard shortcut.
▶️IFTTT: Use “If This, Then That” to connect all your tools together and make them work harmoniously. For example, you can set it so that if you star an email in Gmail, a task on your to-do list is automatically created.
▶️Evernote: An incredibly useful app that can be synced across all your devices, Evernote makes it possible to jot down ideas on your phone while watching your kids play – then access them in an instant when you’re back at your computer.
▶️Buffer: If you use social media in any capacity in your work, Buffer can be a life-saver. It allows you to quickly schedule out content over all your media channels in advance – so you can forget about it for the rest of the week.
5. Get Up Early Or Work Late
Make the most of the time when your kids are asleep. If you have older children who tend to sleep in, get up before them, and squeeze in some work in the morning. If you have young children who go to bed early, your prime work time can be in the evening.
And of course, there’s always nap time. If you’ve used the strategy in the last point and your kids have been playing energetic games all morning, they might be ready for a nap in the afternoon.
6. Things Others Can Help You With
You don’t have to struggle through this alone! There are many ways others may be able to help you achieve your work goals. Here are a few things others can help you with.
👉Encourage Older Kids to Entertain Younger Ones
If you have children old enough, let them teach or lead their younger siblings. They can teach their younger siblings a skill, lead them in a game or read them a story.
This is a great way to keep everyone occupied – and it also teaches your older kids responsibility and how to care for others.
👉Let Them Video-Call Family Members and Friends
Your child can call an aunt, uncle, grandma or grandpa on the phone and video chat with them for a while. They can read stories, play games, talk, sing, dance and much more. While they are occupied with the conversation, you can get some work done. It’s almost like having a virtual babysitter!
👉Swap In and Out With Your Spouse
If you have a partner who can help with the childcare – things will be a lot easier. You may find that the most productive strategy is to alternate your workday schedule. Take turns working and taking care of the kids, allowing each adult time to concentrate solely on work.

We hope that these tips will make your work-from-home routine with kids a lot more productive and less stressful!

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