COVID-19 has brought unique challenges to our everyday lives, social isolation, uncertainty and anxiety to cope up with. Add to that the pressure of working from home in uncomfortable workspaces, juggling between household and office work especially when the rest of the family is at home can be daunting. As businesses have shifted most of the office staff to work from home, WFH can be a tough task with kids demanding your time and attention.
Across the world, schools and day-care centres have been shut to control the spread of the deadly Coronavirus, working parents face complex decisions on how to manage work, keep kids engaged and anxietyfree and meet household demand without the help of any domestic support staff.
The increasing uncertainty surrounding COVOD-19 crisis becomes tougher to handle for two-parent homes where both partners are working from home. It gets increasingly difficult in the case of single parents, kids with special needs, and parents working with essential services who must work outside of the home. The concern multi-folds, if the family has a senior citizen to take care of.
To ease out your stress in these tough times, here are a few tips which will help you to successfully work from home with kids in the Coronavirus Crisis.
Managing Office from Home
Discuss the Expectations
It’s important to proactively communicate with your employer that you have children to take care of in your home. Make them aware that you cannot guarantee work deadlines or work calls interruption-free. Have clear communication with your kids, explain to them that you have calls, meetings and office work deadlines.
Share the Workload
Consider sharing the workload with your spouse. Share household chores, and take turns to engage the kid with creative activities, even you or your spouse can consider exercising or mediate with your kid. Meditation reduces the social isolation stress and makes the child calm. Exercising together is not only a fun activity, but it also makes the kid active and understand the importance of healthy wellbeing.
Connect with Virtual Baby-sitters
When you and your spouse have deadlines to adhere to, the best way to engage kids is to reach out to friends, grandparents, teachers, relatives, anyone who can talk and engage your kids on a virtual call whole you stick to your office work. Virtual baby-sitters are amazing resources, they can engage your kids with virtual playdates talking, reading, or organising games, dance sessions and much more, all online.
Managing Kids at Home
Stick to a Routine
The disruption of everyday routines can induce stress in kids. Discuss with them what exciting activities you have planned them for. This can be as simple as drawing activities or cooking together. The goal is not to re-create the school day exactly, but to work on a new routine for virtual school at home.
Creatively Collaborate
While you are attending meetings and working on those spreadsheets, don’t forget to plan a creative activity for your kid. Join them in their artwork or sing with them, this will not only ensure that you are with your kids in the COVID-19 crisis but are making sure to take time out to maintain the work-life balance.
Reward and Acknowledge
Staying at home with kids in the COVID-19 uncertainty essentially needs a harmonious environment at home. Avoid scolding kids understand they are going through confusion and stress with their schools closed and no playtime in the playgrounds. Acknowledge your little one’s activities and reward them when they draw, dance or sing or engage themselves in any other creative activity.
Also, re-schedule your daily habits you may need to continue working in the late hours after your kids are off to bed or wake up earlier in the morning to get more uninterrupted hours dedicated to your office work.
Discuss News
Let your kids know that the world is fighting out against a deadly virus. Let them know the importance of maintaining hygiene, and the importance of social distancing. Make sure you restrict watching news day-in-day-out. Discuss what is relevant and how healthcare professionals are working tirelessly to mitigate contagion. Encourage a healthy discussion, you can stay by asking your child what they understand about what is happening and correct them if they have any misleading information.
Stay connected
You can include online interactions with friends and family members. Through video calls, you can turn your house into a digital village. Set up a secure video-gaming community where your child can play with their friends securely without the fear of any stranger interaction. Adhering to lockdown and social isolation to mitigate the Coronavirus crisis does not mean you have to be emotionally disconnected with your loved ones. Get them on a video and share your kid’s activities. It will be an emotional stress buster for your kid too.
Gigadocs is there with you in this testing time. Connect with us on the Gigadocs app to get the best Healthcare tips and reach out to Medicare professionals for the complete healthcare of your family.
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