How to Keep Your Kids Preoccupied while you Work From Home

Working from home as well as hybrid working is here to stay! It’s extremely beneficial if you have a family and want to prioritise your time and have more time with them. That’s why many Assessors work freelance because it gives them flexibility and time when it comes to their personal lives. But you never get told about the struggles. Maybe the kids are off from school or it’s the school holidays and you haven’t booked time off. Meaning they’re demanding your attention.

If this is your problem, don’t worry, we’re going to go through some ways you can help find that balance and have time to get your work done. Whether you’re struggling with maintaining a routine or stress, we’re going to help.

Keep a structure

The boundaries between work and home life can become easily blurred. It’s just you saying oh one more hour, and then you’ve gone over your allotted time. That’s why you need to keep strict boundaries when you work from home because it is easy to say you’ll just finish this bit. Having consistency is key, especially if you struggle with routines. Routines will benefit everyone in the household, not just the children.

You can try and create a daily routine, by sitting down one day and planning your day ahead. Having it written down will also help visualise what is going to happen and by when. Having this daily will help set yourself and your children up for success that day and get them introduced to routines. You can set aside time for:

• You to have breaks
• Give yourself a set time after work for relaxing and self-care
• Time for meals, yourself and the kids!
• To engage with your kids and ask about their day
• Create time to play games or create with your kids
• Have time for them to relax and watch TV
• Have time for your kids to have quiet time or nap time if applicable.

Doing this each day will help you structure your own workday and keep your kids grounded because they have a set schedule.

Keep them entertained

To keep your children entertained, there are multiple ways you can do this. Youtube is a great source of educational and entertaining content for kids. Especially with it being free and accessible from pretty much anywhere. It’s important that you research any content you’re going to be showing your kids to make sure that what they’re watching is appropriate for them. A great thing about Youtube is that there is something for every child. If they like animals or science etc, there will be videos for them to watch and engage with.

Similarly, on TV, if they have a favourite show or want to watch something specific, you can show them. But be careful about screen time! If they have a reward of watching TV in the evening maybe not let them watch a lot of it during the day or encourage Youtube educational content.

Activities

When you can’t spend one-on-one time with your children, try not to feel guilty! A vital part of working from home is to teach your kids how to play independently and safely. Even if they have siblings or are an only child. Here are a few ways they can play independently.

Arts and Crafts

Arts and crafts cover a range of different things such as painting, colouring, writing/scribbling, drawing, sticking and glueing. This is a great way for them to spend their day. It will encourage their creativity and thinking processes, but it can also be a really therapeutic outlet for kids.

Board games and toys

This is a great way to keep kids entertained. There is a huge range of board games that keep kids occupied and they tend to get competitive, but it’s a great way to show them how to play fairly and decently with others.

Keeping active

It can be hard to keep yourself and your kids active. But it can be really helpful for everyone. Especially by getting out of the house. If you want to keep them inside, there is always dancing videos on Youtube or maybe their favourite songs. There’s always Just Dance on the Wii, that’s always a hit! If you want to join them then maybe you can take them on a walk during your lunch or after your work day to get some fresh air and go to a different space.

Audiobooks and Podcasts

Audiobooks are rising in popularity and they’re not just for adults anymore! Many children’s classics are available on audio and there are a lot of podcasts that are child friendly. Podcasts are also a great way for them to limit screen time but still enjoy their favourite things or learn new things. Just like with Youtube, content needs to be checked to make sure it is appropriate for them to listen to.

Writing and keeping a diary

Why not encourage your children to have a diary and note down what they want to do during the day and what they have enjoyed? This can help you in deciding what they should be doing to keep them entertained. Or just get their creativity flowing if they want to write stories or word prompts they can and then they can read it to you after. This can really help if they struggle with spelling or literacy, by letting them explore their own stuff and then you can correct them at the end, but they have done it themselves.

As we all know working from home or being a freelance assessor has major benefits, but also downfalls. So we hope this has helped you in creating a better working day routine!