Quarantine: Working From Home With Our Kids

We all complain about our busy lives and not having enough time to spend with our partners and kids, but now a pandemic is upon us, and presented with this unique silver lining, a lot of us are freaking out. 

How the hell are we supposed to survive being around the people we love most in the world?

If you’ve ever worked from home with little kids underfoot, even for a day, you know it’s no joke. Kids are demanding, work requires concentration—the two don’t exactly mix.

But the reality for many working parents is that the coronavirus is beginning to make its way through our communities, including mine. And that means many of us may soon find ourselves firing up our computers from home while we deal with kids who are off from school indefinitely. Add the potential for a self-quarantine on top of that and this is about to get really real.

Working from home when the kids are off from school is not new to me, and it might not be for you either. But that’s for, like, a day or two. A bad snow storm. A couple of feverish days. Not the likes of which many parents may be about to experience with the days stretching out in front of them, running low on snacks and high on cooped-up energy.

Here are 10 ways for us to try and get work done while having our kids home:

1. Have a snack area or snack drawer for kids so they can help themselves (i.e., not bother you every 20 minutes). In a sense, it’s a snack free-for-all, at least for as long as supplies last that you put in there, with fruit and other healthy items in the mix of course!

2. Really need to get through a phone call? Set a timer for 30 minutes of quiet play. They can run screaming to you when it goes off (just make sure your call is no longer than 29 minutes).

3. Plop them in the bathtub. If they’re little (need to be supervised) and you have a laptop, bring it in with you and get another 30 minutes of mostly uninterrupted work time.

4. Bundle up and head outside. Tension running high between siblings? For some reason, nothing can calm everyone like some fresh air. So grab your hot coffee, bundle up, and bring your computer charger out to the porch with you!

5. It’s time to pull out those toys in the basement they haven’t touched in awhile. You’d be surprised what you can find down there! 

6. Make them EARN screen time. Create a point system for chores or things that need to get done that are age appropriate so they keep busy, stay productive, and earn something they crave!

7. Let them cut up old magazines and create a vision board. Heck, you should join them if you can. We could all use the inspiration during this pandemic. 

8. Combine forces with your neighbors if you can. I KNOW, it’s quarantine, but it really does take a village. If you're drowning, so is the mama next door. You may be able to set up a schedule where you take each other's kids a few hours every day or so. This will not only give YOU the time to get things done, but help them avoid boredom and isolation. 

9. KEEP THEM MOVING. Set up obstacle courses, time how fast they can run around the house. Trust me, if there is anytime your noisy neighbors won’t be judging you, it’s not. 

10. Give each other space by creating zones. Try to think of things you can do by yourself and as a family. It can be hard for families who are used to all going off to their own activities being forced into this intense time. Create spaces in the house, if possible, like little zones – This is our game zone. This bean bag with a headset is our chill-out corner.

It's hard to keep calm in the face of the bubbling hysteria, and there's no perfect plan for surviving quarantine with your loved ones. But it is preferable to the guilt of wondering if you passed the virus to someone less well equipped to deal with it.

Hang in there everyone. This too shall pass.