Working From Home WITH CHILDREN!!! Tips by Veronica Dearly
Posted by Veronica Dearsley on
Okay don’t panic. Don’t panic. Working with children at home whilst simultaneously dealing with the pressure from the internet to maintain an elaborate homeschooling schedule including lessons in 3 instruments and 2 ancient languages for those children is hard. But, what if I told you, you don’t have to do that?!
All of this obviously depends on how old your children are, and if you have 1 of them, or 8 of them. We’re all in very different boats. However, my top tip applies universally:
A lot of people are working from home with their children. People who have never done it before. A lot of people are struggling. There is absolutely no shame in that whatsoever. It’s hard. You’re juggling trying to achieve work things, with not only, keeping the children alive, but also make sure they are in some way occupied and entertained. There’s a reason why teachers don’t sit at the front of their classes playing Solitaire - it’s hard work.
Now not everyone has the luxury of being like, *shrug* "Can’t do it." - so I don’t want to sound like I don’t get it. I do. But some serious prioritising will probably need to take place. If you can physically only get 1 important thing done each day, then work out what that thing is going to be, and anything extra is a bonus.
You might be the sort of organised person who thrives in challenging yourself and enjoys getting stuck into educating your child. I'm obviously not suggesting everyone hates their children and refuses to do anything with them, however, I *am* saying, take what you're reading about other people, and their activities, with a pinch of salt. Keep your eyes on your own lane - do what you can, and know that you've tried. That's all that matters right now.
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Honestly, there is a lot out there. And even if your children are at the age where you can't help them with their maths (like 8 or so right?!), you can help them find a YouTube video to explain things that you can't. Actually, we are at stage in history where we have access to almost all the information we could ever want. So teaching them how to use the internet to find whatever they want to learn about, is probably the greatest educational gift of all.
You know how we're always like "I'm so annoyed that we don't get taught about taxes, or interest rates, or mortgages or politics at school. That would be really handy now!" Well now is your chance to actually do that.
And it doesn't have to be stuff like that, you can just teach them about all the things you do day-to-day that keep your world going round. Or follow their lead. If they want to spend the next 3 months learning how to become an expert in making sushi, then go with it. Who knows, it might be what they end up doing with their adult lives.
Children like to feel like they're helping, so if you can convince them that they are, then you might be able to get a little bit more work done. I'm not suggesting that you actually get your children to do your work, just something related. So if you're an accountant, some kind of maths task, or if you're me, get them to draw their feelings and how they see the world in bubble writing... You get the idea.
Stay as active as you can. Your children are probably used to spending a couple of hours a day doing something vaguely physical, so looking at ways to replicate that in the home are going to be crucial to stop them climbing the walls. Nothing says family fun time like a Lizzo Dance Party. Basically "Lizzo Dance Party" is my answer to everything.
Remember, everyone is going through similar things. Whatever happens, no one is really expecting our children to come through to the other side and just carry on as if nothing happened, and be totally up to date on everything. If the only thing you feel like you can achieve is getting through to the other side having prioritised minimising household conflict and promoting all of your happiness, then that's totally fine. That's my goal, anything else will be a bonus.