Managing The Juggle: Survival Tips For Remote Working Parents

Working from home while caring for babies and toddlers is a juggling act that requires solid time management skills, adaptability, and a positive mental outlook.

Good organizational and self-care practices can help smooth the process, as will open and honest communication with your employer about your needs and limitations.

Her Healthy Habits can be an exceptional resource for helping you cope with anxiety, develop a healthy routine, and be more motivated and empowered for yourself and for your family.

Balancing The Act

When you're working at home and wrangling young charges, time management is crucial. Have a candid conversation with your supervisor about your situation and look for ways to create a flexible work schedule that allows you to be productive as an employee, while also taking care of your responsibilities as a parent.

This might mean strictly scheduled meeting times, or working a split schedule while your kids are sleeping, occupied, or otherwise entertained by another adult.

You may even be able to request a compressed work schedule, as well as bring in supplemental outside help to care for your children while you work during heavily focused, blocked-out periods of time.

According to Entrepreneur, conducting a “time audit” can also help you allocate your hours in a more efficient way.

Practical Considerations

A routine can be a work-from-home parent’s best friend. If there are others in your household who can help take on childcare duties, you can plan your work schedule accordingly. Staying on track with meal times, naps, and play can allow you some degree of flexible scheduling throughout the course of the day.

Having a designated workspace will also help you separate work and home.

You’ll want to ensure the space is off-limits to the rest of the household, both to keep your work protected and to have a firm delineation between when you're “at work” and when you're “at home.”

If it’s not possible to carve out personal space, create a portable “office” in the form of a tote that contains all of your essentials.

Prioritize Self-Care

According to Mayo Clinic, while you may feel constantly torn between meeting the needs of your employer and the needs of your family, it's critical that you take care of yourself, as well.

Schedule time each day that's just for you.

Whether you're participating in a moment of mindful meditation, chatting with a friend, or even watching your favorite TV show, having a bit of alone time can help you be more effective when you return to your work and your family.

Even 30 minutes can make a notable difference in your attitude and outlook.

Make sure you're eating healthy and making time for physical activity, as well as to ensure that you're maintaining your health and well-being.

Look To The Future

Working at home is putting many people in a position of rethinking their long-term career paths. Consider what you want to do, what can you afford to do & how you can begin to direct your career that supports your family's needs.

Remote-working parents will always have the challenge of balancing home, kids, personal well-being, and professional satisfaction.

Give yourself permission to explore paths toward self-fulfillment, and reach out for resources to help you along the way. Her Healthy Habits can provide focused coaching to help you devise achievable strategies toward personal health, professional satisfaction, and a thriving, confident lifestyle.

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Written by Guest Author Janice Russell, who believes the only way to survive parenthood is to find the humor in it. She created Parenting Disasters so that parents would have a go-to resource whenever they needed a laugh, but also to show parents they aren’t alone. She wants every frazzled parent out there to remember that for every kid stuck in a toilet, there’s another one out there somewhere who’s just graced their parents’ walls with some Sharpie artwork!