Though Florida is starting to open back up, our kids won’t return to school until next school year and some parents are still working from home. It poses many challenges for whole families to be cooped up together 24/7, when it is customary to separate every day for several hours to attend school, extracurricular activities and work.
I recently came across some great thoughts on this situation many of us are in, including strategies to successfully share the home space for both work and schooling. Here are a couple of strategies that might help.
COMMUNICATE, COLLABORATE AND COORDINATE
Whether you are co-parenting from the same household or separate ones, help each other out by taking shifts of work and child supervision. While one parent is working in the morning hours, the other can work with the children on school. Then you can switch roles in the afternoon so that each parent gets some work time and some childcare time.
INCLUDE YOUR KIDS
Ask your children to “help” in ways that make sense for their ages. You might help them make a “Time to Work” sign for you, then explain that when you hang it on the door, that means you need quiet time to concentrate. Help them make special artwork for your workspace—especially if you’ll be in video meetings. Your kids are more likely to respect boundaries between work time and family time if they feel invested in both.
SEIZE THE MOMENT
Though many kids (and parents) are reaching a point of near insanity due to lack of social interaction outside the home, many of you may recall trying to find more time to spend with your children not too long ago. In addition to playing games, watching movies and cooking together, take the time to talk. Right now there is time to open dialogues we may not have had time for before. Ask questions about your kids’ anxieties, stressors, friend drama, fears, dreams, aspirations and belief systems. Take time to really listen without judgment and you may build more trust and closeness than you ever dreamed possible.