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A Parent's Survival Guide: How to Balance Remote Work with Child Care

Janice Russell

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As a parent of a baby or toddler, you have your hands full at all times. While working from home allows you more time with your kids, it can also complicate the work-life balance. Fortunately, there are ways you can survive remote work while raising your baby.


Create a Child-Friendly Work Schedule

One of the main benefits of working from home is having more flexibility. However, according to experts, the lack of structure opens up the door to procrastination. Some people benefit from a schedule with plenty of breaks throughout the day, whereas others like to finish as much as possible in a few hours and have the rest of the day to themselves.


Finding a work routine might take time. You may discover you do your best work early in the morning or later in the afternoon. Take advantage of your baby's sleep schedule. For instance, wake before your child does or work productively during naptimes.


Occupy Your Children

If you want to get work done, you cannot do it with your children interrupting you every five minutes. For toddlers, encourage independent play. Independent play promotes confidence, curiosity and self-reliance. To ease your toddler into independent play, sit silently with him or her instead of joining in play. Be careful not to hover or to interject during playtime. For example, do not tell him or her the right way to play with certain toys unless for safety.


You do not have to occupy your children on your own. Allow your support system to assist. For example, family, friends, or others may be willing to watch and engage with your children when you have an important meeting or task to complete. Talk to other members of your family about the kind of help you need.


Consider the Advantages of Child Care

You have to set boundaries as a remote worker. While most of your family should understand that you need time alone when you shut your office door, toddlers do not. While you can allow your children more screen time and set up activity stations to keep them occupied, child care can also alleviate the burden.


Daycare from Cedarbrook Early Learning Center, for example, provides children with developmentally appropriate activities and provides you time to work in peace. In fact, daycare may improve your child's language development and cognitive abilities. Nonparental care can be beneficial and does not pose a risk to your child.


Care for Yourself

During the workday, you can limit your distractions, turn off notifications and focus on your work, but after you clock out, you need to care for yourself too. Distractions in the workplace can add to your stress level, but so can not taking time for yourself after work. Remember to prioritize your health. For example, remember to work out, eat healthily and focus on your mental health.


If you want to change careers, you may go back to school. Consider earning your degree online to continue working at your own pace while balancing child care. For example, you can obtain an online teaching degree to earn a teaching license. To become a teacher, you typically need to complete a bachelor's program, submit transcripts, pass entrance exams skill tests and complete a background check.


When you work remotely, you have to balance your professional life with child care. Fortunately, surviving as a work-from-home parent is possible.

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