A Defined (But Flexible!) Routine Works Wonders
Andrew Savikas, Chief Strategy Officer /
How has the experience of working from home with kids during the coronavirus crisis been (so far)? Although I already worked remotely before the shutdown, that used to mean going to a co-working space after dropping my son off at his school. It’s definitely been an adjustment for the whole family for everyone to be in the house together all day, every day!
Tips for managing family and remote work: Be extra kind to yourself and your family, and give yourself permission to step away from work to check in on the kids, to take over homeschooling duties for a few hours, or just to get some fresh air.
The change that helped the most: A defined (but flexible!) routine works wonders. My wife homeschooled our kids for preschool, so she dusted off the schedule she used then and updated it a bit. Structure and predictability are as valuable for us as parents as for the kids.
Favorite book to read with as a family: We often read The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh together before bedtime. My daughter is the age my son was when I used to read it to him every night, and now that he can read himself my son enjoys the stories on a different level now (he’s even recording a few chapters to make his own audiobook as I write this). The messages of kindness, bravery, community and sacrifice are helpful for the whole family to hear. We also sometimes rotate Sitting Still Like a Frog (a book for kids about meditation and mindfulness) and listen to the exercises together as a family before bed.
One abstract that has helped you get through this challenge: It seems so long ago, but it was just in January that the world lost a great thinker when Clay Christensen passed away. The summary of his book How Will You Measure Your Life? is very useful and grounding at the moment, and offers useful guidance for channeling forward any anxiety and uncertainty into a path aligned with your values.
This article is part of our Working from Home with Kids-series. Here you will find an overview of all the articles full of useful tips from the getAbstract work-life-educate-while-in-a-video-call-and-watching-one-of-those-new-live-sessions-play corner.
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