The current situation requires that many professionals know how to do telework and take care of children. It's not easy, but it's posssible. See our ideas.
The closure of schools and companies by imposing social isolation as a preventive measure in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic raised a question: how to do telework and care for children?
These are times of great physical and mental demands. This can actually be the biggest challenge of your life. We leave you two hands full of tips to help you get the job done.
The challenge
Working from home, maintaining focus, productivity and meeting deadlines, while taking care of young children, helping them with school tasks or inventing activities to entertain them in a playful way, considering that no one can leave (nor enter) , days on end, it seems too much. And is. It is also absolutely necessary.
This is an unprecedented challenge for everyone who works, now remotely, and has young children. So we have little tricks that can make a big difference.
Create your workplace
It is very important to have your own space to work. If you live in a large house, you will eventually have an office, if you do not convert one of the rooms into a temporary office. If you live in a less spacious home, create your workplace in the living room, bedroom or kitchen, where it is easier to carry out your tasks without (or with the minimum of) interruptions.
Creating a workplace helps organization and concentration. The space should be as far away from children as possible, well lit, tidy and equipped with the tools and technologies necessary to carry out their professional functions.
Stick to a schedule
Preferably, wake up early, to have more time and do the tasks with some calm. The ideal is to plan your day, as soon as you wake up, at breakfast or the night before. This will help you to organize yourself.
When it comes to work, impose a working schedule, as if you were in the company, and try to comply, making some adjustments if necessary. Enjoy the moments without interruptions to advance as much as possible. If you can work at night and it helps you to organize better, do it. However, don't forget that sleeping is essential.
Plan activities for children
This is a fundamental point for doing remote work at home and taking care of children. Just as you should plan your workday, you should plan activities for your children's day.
Many elementary schools, but also day care centers and pre-school institutions continue to send jobs and activities during the week. For greater support in this matter, use the resources provided by the General Directorate of Education (DGE) through the School Support website where you will find various materials and activity plans. To these, you can always add others.
They must be activities that help them to entertain themselves for relatively long periods. That way, they will be busy and you can work without interruption. Drawings, collages, puzzles, constructions, stories, theater, dance, among many other activities that allow playing and also learning.
Similar to what is customary to do in schools, divide the room (or other space in the house) into fun / activity corners, such as: singing of the plastic arts; the reading corner; the “make believe”, with clothes and utensils with which they can make theaters or create games; the singing of knowledge, with didactic activities, among others.
The tablet is not excluded, but it should be used sparingly, no matter how well you know. Take advantage of a calmer time to hold a video conference meeting, for example. It is important that you do not offer children everything at the same time or the same activities every day.
Another interesting thing that can and should be added to daily routines are domestic activities, such as laying and lifting the table, making the bed, washing and drying clothes, among others that your children can do. Variety and novelty are essential so that children do not get bored.
Maintain routines
If you can't go out to work, and the kids don't go to school, that doesn't mean you don't have routines. They are essential. Having an hour to wake up, to do certain activities, such as studying, resting and sleeping, for example is very important, both for the daily management of the whole family, but essentially for the youngest.
The absence of routines implies the loss of habits, which can represent a serious difficulty in returning to normal life.
Set clear goals
Not going to school has an effect on any child. The loss of study habits cannot happen under penalty of being (very) difficult to recover.
Many teachers continue to work from home, so it is possible to establish a daily routine with them. If necessary, you can create daily tasks like exercises or mandatory readings, and review with your children at the end of the day.
What matters is that they continue to study and learn. Being at home due to COVID-19 is not synonymous with being on vacation. Therefore, objectives must be maintained.
Avoid leaving home
The idea is to stay at home. This is the principle of remote work in time to fight the new coronavirus. Therefore, leave only if it is essential to do so.
If you go out to the supermarket, buy a large quantity of essential products (without exaggeration, of course) so that you don't have to leave constantly. Always try the alternative of buying online and receiving at home.
There are hypermarkets and supermarkets, as well as fresh produce stores and pharmacies, for example, that offer this service.
Enjoy the naps
Without interruptions, you achieve greater concentration, therefore greater productivity. Make the most of naps.
ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER ANNOUNCEMENT
Set times for contacts
If you need to have more direct contact with colleagues and / or superiors, by phone or video call, or even schedule a meeting with a client, understand the best times of the day to do so.
It may be early in the morning, before the children wake up, at siesta time, in the late afternoon when they are watching cartoons, for example. Flexibility and adaptation are the watchwords to be able to respond to your needs and obligations.
Switch responsibilities
If you have that possibility, alternate family responsibilities with your partner. It is important that you both can work, but it is also beneficial that you both spend time with children.
The solution is to alternate. Establish periods of the day for each one and in this way you can concentrate on working and taking breaks to be with your children. Thus, they are able to respond to all needs, with true team spirit (or a little more than that).
Extra:
Ensure a balance between work and family
Prevent work from interfering with the family environment. The time has come, close the computer. Spend quality time with your family and keep some for yourself, read a book, dance, join a pillow fight, make pizza together, laugh and relax.
We hope that these ideas help with the task of working remotely and taking care of children. Make the most of this moment.
Comentários
Enviar um comentário