Your Go-to-Guide To Working From Home With Kids While Staying Sane and Productive

Trying to manage a full-time job, a screaming toddler, an unruly baby, and a house that should have been cleaned weeks ago is a recipe for stress, overwhelm, and burnout. So it’ll come as no surprise to any parent that working from home with kids doesn’t really lead to an increase in productivity. And due to the prolonged public health crisis we’re all enduring, what may have initially seemed like temporary chaos has given way to a new, dysfunctional reality in which you’re expected to seamlessly balance family and work, simultaneously and with no definitive end in sight.

“We’re two months into the ‘new normal’ of working from home and taking care of kids. Functioning in this way is a chronic, not acute, stressor,” Dr. Sarah Reiff-Hekking, PhD, time management expert and CEO of True Focus Coaching, Inc., tells Woman’s Day. “You need to shift your thinking to ‘how can I make this work for now?’”

To help facilitate that necessary shift, try these eight tips to help make the seemingly impossible task of working from home while also operating a daycare (and facilitating your children's at home e-learning) a little less painful.