By: Jesse Alcontin – October 26, 2020
Working from home successfully requires skill especially if you are both an employee and a parent at home. And it’s not impossible to actually be good at both! When COVID-19 enforced major lockdown in the Philippines, it caused a lot of companies to come up with new range of alternatives with their work structure. One of those is working remotely. And if you’re a parent who is new to this set-up, there are certain ways to get the best of both worlds: be a dedicated parent while staying as a responsible employee. If you want to know more about Smart Parenting while WFH, then continue reading below because you might actually end up winning!
1. MAKE A CLEAR SCHEDULE
Know when it’s time to be a parent and when to be an employee. Line up all your household chores and workload then come up with a clear schedule that would allow you to do all of it without sacrificing any of the two. Figuring out your to do list beforehand would be a great help to have a control over everything. There’s time to prepare meals, there’s time to sit down and be present in a virtual meeting. There’s a time to help your child with his or her assignment and there is certainly a time to finish all your tasks and backlogs at work. Give each of them your full concentration for a certain amount of time. This is very important.
Having a comprehensible schedule will help you to organize and manage your time on a daily basis. It would also be best if you can post a copy of your schedule to a place where your child can instantly see it. Stick it on your refrigerator for example, allowing your child to be aware when is the best time to talk or seek for you without interfering your time at work.
2. STICK TO A ROUTINE
Make a daily routine for you and your child. Sustaining a daily routine would contribute positively for you and your child to stay occupied with things that you both need to do. For example, you can do a morning routine where while you prepare for breakfast and your stuff for work, simultaneously, your child can take a bath, brush teeth, dress up, and read or review his or her upcoming lesson for 10-20 minutes. Introduce this routine to your child as early as you can because encouraging them to do things on their own can boost their confidence and self-reliance that may fulfill their own sense of accomplishment.
While they are enjoying their independent time without needing any of your aid, help yourself and follow your own schedule of tasks to finish.
3. MAKE RULES WITH THE CHILDREN
Use visual cues to minimize disturbance. Usual scenarios for working-at-home parents is the probability of co-workers seeing or hearing children from the background whenever there is an online meeting. It is best to set a distinct rule to your children and explain to them carefully how important it is that they do not interrupt you in the middle of your meetings. If you share child supervision with your wife or husband, it is best that they stay into a different room or if you have your own office at home, don’t let anyone come in when you are talking to clients or colleagues.
Be creative and use visual cues to let your child know that they can’t disturb you. Hang a sign on your doorknob with a written rule to not go inside. If you don’t have your own office and work with the same space with your child, stick a signage on your laptop or computer a that says the same rule. Ultimately, making creative signages can also open an opportunity for you and your child to craft it together. This can promote bonding and will be a good time for your child to understand the real meaning and importance of the visual cue.
4. LET YOUR KIDS MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICES
Give your child the ability to choose on their own. Giving your child the liberty to make their own decisions can help in building their independence. Trust them to do simple choices like what they want to do during their break time from online school, what snack they can prepare on their own, or choosing what clothes to wear. This will help them emotionally knowing that they are trusted with tasks in high hopes that they can already be fully responsible for it. An added bonus to seeing how well your child can perform with minimum supervision, is the fact that you get to have more uninterrupted time to get things done at work.
5. FREE AN HOUR TO CATCH UP WITH THEIR STUDIES
At the end of the day, check on your child’s education. Let your child see how you value his or her education. Once they appreciate how you make time to check their lessons every day despite your busy schedule at work, then they will sense how important the value of education is. Knowing that you are concerned to your child’s learning can translate to better perseverance from your child’s end. Truly, if we want our children to value education, then we must show our appreciation for knowledge.
From the schedule you made, always find a time after work to talk with your child. It doesn’t always have to be a review of the lessons where you guys act like teacher and a student. Coming from your heart, start a conversation on how your child spent the day. Let your child share true concerns and comments from class and show how sincere you are with your child’s worries or how happy and proud you are with their achievements from class, big or small.
THE BOTTOMLINE
Embrace change and learn how to win against your own inhibitions. What would life be if we had no courage to try unfamiliar things, right? Don’t panic if you’re new to the WFH set-up. If you can follow these tips that we provided you, then indeed, you are WINNING from home! Now that we convinced you that there’s no superpower needed to be a fantastic parent and a terrific employee at the same time, know that you have options on how to fully develop your child’s potential while you’re pre-occupied with work.
Chalkboard guarantees work-from-home parents that their child is in good hands. Chalkboard believes that if a child cannot learn in the way we teach, we must teach in a way the child can learn. And every child has a different learning style. Here at Chalkboard, we are home to many experienced, proficient, and innovative educators. As an online platform, we want to connect learners with tutors who are best suited for their different needs. We want to assure you that by meeting and getting the best online tutors from our platform, you can begin worrying less because most certainly, your child will get quality education while you are working at home. There is always happiness in giving. And Chalkboard always aims to give what learners need.
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