It's no secret that working from home can be a challenge in terms of concentration and motivation. But, add kids to mix and we can safely say you're playing in the big leagues!
This pandemic has tremendously revolutionized the way we interact, raise children, work, and more, and so learning how to maneuver as a parent poses its own challenges. However, we're seeing where some parents are legitimately finding the balancing act quite difficult, understandably.
Some parents have found themselves in a place where they lock away in another room or home office to get things done, but then that robs the kids of time with their parents. On the flipside, some parents get so caught up with trying to spend time with their kids to keep them stable and mentally healthy that work's deadlines get left behind.
While we know that situations vary, we're sure we can all agree that these two extremes are honestly not sustainable.
Now, we all know that every child is different, as well as every parent, so of course, efforts that you make to balance things out may give varied results, but of course, we can't just leave you hanging.
Here are three tips you can do to strike a balance:
STEP 1. Set a Task List
As much as is possible, find a way to write down ALL the things you need to do within a given week (not day).
We say week because sometimes, setting daily to-do lists as parents causes us to put an extra amount of pressure on ourselves making disappointment and self-condemnation more prevalent. You don't need that.
So, write down the things that you need to get done for the family, work AND you. Also, make sure that what you're writing down really DOES need to get done within that week, rather than you forcing things into that week.
It helps to see things on paper so that you can streamline things a bit better.
Then:
STEP 2. Prioritize Deadline
Once you've written down the things for the week, it's time to put them in order of priority. What are the things that are more urgent than others?
With this step, you can tackle the priority items by day or you can move through each of them at your own, purposeful pace and check them off one-by-one.
Then:
STEP 3. Be Flexible
Give yourself grace and remember that life happens, especially when you have kids. Some things are going to end up getting shifted to the following week. Somethings just will not get done. Some things won't get done in the way that you anticipated or initially desired. Allow that reality to be okay.
Then, if possible:
BONUS STEP: Play tag-team if you can!
Now, we're quite aware that households differ in terms of he access to resources and support as well as parent-figures. With that in mind, we want to encourage you to use available resources effectively, being mindful that everyone is currently trying to re-calibrate.
One of the best ways to do this is to play tag-team which, simply put, means that one person takes over in spending time with the kids while the other makes moves in getting other things done either around the house, for work, etc.
This can be split up based on the day, or setting 4-hour blocks or whichever parameters best suit your specific situation.
We hope these steps truly help you as you continue your journey during these times and beyond! If you've got any comments, tips or questions of your own, feel free to drop them below.
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