Author Bio: Cristin Howard runs Smart Parent Advice, a site that provides parenting advice for
moms and dads. Cristin writes about all of the different ups and downs of parenting, provides
solutions to common challenges, and reviews products that parents need to purchase for babies
and toddlers.
When you’re working from home and trying to take care of your kids at the same time, it can be
a tough balancing act. The blessing of being at home together means you get to spend more
time with them, but you still have work to do.
Here are some activities you can do with your kids while you work from home that may help you
accomplish both.
- Play outside
When the weather is nice, you don’t want to pass up enjoying it together, even with a packed
schedule. Go in the backyard with your kids and bring your laptop. You can squeeze in a few
emails while you watch them run around.
Take the occasional break and run around with them or go for a quick walk around the block as
a family. It’s a fast and easy way to work out some energy.
If you don’t feel like you can afford any time away from your screen, use a stopwatch to time
your kids and see who can run around the house the fastest. They’ll get worn out and you won’t
have to move a muscle. - Make a meal
You all have to eat lunch at some point anyway. Use meal times to involve your kids in a
productive activity. You could even have your kids make the lunch menu for the entire week and
take charge of making it for everyone.
This is a fun way to spend time together and show love by making something for one another.
Serving each other is a great way to care for your family and having your kids help will teach
them a bit of responsibility and take it off of your plate. - Do a puzzle
Puzzles can be fun for the whole family, entertaining for a long time, and really easy to set up. If
you spread a puzzle out on the table or the floor, you can participate as you’re able while still
getting work done.
There are no complicated rules like in board games and there’s no messy or time consuming
setup like with crafts. It’s a way to keep your kids brain moving while being cooped up at home
and a great way to spend some time together. - Read books
This is a great activity if your child is learning to read. Reading for just 20 minutes a day won’t
take too much time away from your work and it will give your child the exercise they need to
steadily improve.
A program like Children Learning Reading may help you participate in the learning process and
give you activities to do each day together. You can engage with your child while teaching them
to read and you can track progress in a fun and exciting way. - Make trash bag activity stations
Toys like sand and play doh are always the worst disasters, but kids are drawn to them the
most. Spread a trash bag out on the floor and place these types of toys on top of them. These
are great things for you to do together and worry-free activities for your kids to do while you’re
working.
If it ends up being a giant mess, you can roll it up in the trash bag and throw it away later. It
takes the stress out of allowing them to play with messy toys whether you’re able to supervise
or not.
Final Thoughts
When you’re at home together all the time, you need something to break the monotony. You
can’t always be attentive, but you need to find small breaks in the day when you can spend time
with your kids so they get the attention from you that they need.
Rather than tracking your hours worked, check off the tasks completed so you feel more
accomplished, even if you didn’t get to work quite as much as you had hoped. Always make
special time for your kids and you’ll feel like you achieved even more.