Single Parents: How To Stay Productive When Working at Home With Kids Around

We have all had to get adjusted to working from home over the last several months, and we all know the trials and tribulations that come with trying to be productive in an environment usually reserved for relaxing, unwinding, and spending time with family.

Finding the best ways to stay productive and get work done is hard enough at home, but with the kids likely off school or doing remote learning as well, things can be even tougher. This is made even harder when you are a single parent, unable to rely on tag-teaming to keep the kids entertained and out of the way while still balancing some work.

In this article, we’ll provide you with some tips and advice on how best to handle working from home as a single parent with kids.

Have a Separate Room or Dedicated Space

Having a clean and dedicated workspace is crucial to getting work done effectively and staying productive throughout the day. While it may be possible to send a quick few emails when sitting on the sofa with the kids, it's not an environment conducive to staying productive in the long-term.

A dedicated room to be used as a home office, or even just a dedicated area if you don't have space, both offers you somewhere to get into the productivity mindset and also sets clear boundaries for the kids to signal that you shouldn't be disturbed while there.

Give Them Work to Do

Keeping the kids engaged and active is one of the best ways to ensure that you can stay productive. It's much harder for younger kids, but if your kids are older giving them work to do can both help to keep them out of your way and help to get some jobs around the house done, easing the workload for you

Create a Schedule

Setting up a schedule will help you to plan your day and will let the kids know when you have to have some peace to get some work done or when some disruptions might be ok. Schedules are also good for helping keep you motivated and on-track when the inevitable disruptions do occur.

Allow Kids More Freedom

Keeping the kids entertained is a great way to give yourself some peace and quiet to get work done and stay productive. The great thing about kids is that they are experts at entertaining themselves. While it's important to have good boundaries on screen-time (TV, phones, tablets, video games), there is nothing wrong with relaxing the limitations set while you are trying to get some work done from home in order to allow the kids to entertain themselves for a while.

Accept Disruptions are Inevitable

With kids in the house and nobody else to look after them, no matter how many steps you take to mitigate it, disruptions are unfortunately going to be inevitable. The trick is to accept that disruptions are going to happen and try to avoid letting them derail a whole day. Accept the disruptions when they happen, but try to deal with them as quickly as possible and get back to work. The most important thing, though, is to budget your time around the fact the disruptions will occur, and it will likely take you a bit longer than usual to get things done.

Don't Be Afraid To Ask for Help

Taking care of the kids while working is hard as a single parent, but very few of us are without any kind of help. Sometimes it's just impossible to do anything without asking for a bit of assistance. Whether it's looking after the kids for an hour during an important meeting or taking them out for a bit of exercise so you have some time to unwind: don't shy away from asking others to give you a hand occasionally. Other single parents working from home may also be able to help out by offering turn-about shares of looking after the kids.

Plan Around Things

Younger kids especially have set points throughout the day when you can be sure what they will be doing or asking for: nap times, snacks, favourite TV shows airing, etc. Planning your work around these known events can make your life much easier and increase your productivity. For example, if you know your kid will be having a nap at a certain time, then plan work that requires your complete focus and no interruptions for then. Likewise, don't plan an important phone call or video conference when you know snack time will be.

Set Aside Time for You

When stuck at home working and taking care of the kids all day, every day, it's also important to remember to set some time aside for yourself. It's incredibly easy to burn yourself out if you don't have adequate time to relax and unwind away for the pressures of work and caring for others. Simple things like allowing an extra half an hour before you go to bed to read a book or watch a TV series will go a long way to helping ensure you are able to stay productive in the long-run.

Working from home definitely comes with its challenges, and those are only amplified when you are responsible for the entertainment and care of kids as a single parent. But with some careful planning and organisation, and by following the tips in this article, you might find it easier to stay productive as a single parent than you first thought.