Nearly everyone has had experience – whether short-term or long-term – working from home. In some ways, it sounds great. Wearing pajama bottoms all day, taking a break to switch your laundry from the washer to the dryer, listening to your own music – it doesn’t sound too bad, right?

Unless you’re a mom. Specifically, a mom of little kids who are still home all day.

Between cries for more snacks, sporadic diaper changes, noisy cartoons in the background, and constant begging for you to play with them, it’s nearly impossible to get any real work done with little children around.

Or, so it would seem. I’m That Mom has compiled a list of strategies you can use to hopefully accomplish more tasks, even with kiddos underfoot.

Protect Your Space and Time

Many moms working from home have a flexible schedule, meaning they can change their work hours around to meet their needs. That’s great! But, without a set timeframe from your boss, it can sometimes feel like the time set aside for work gets pushed to the back burner, leaving you stressed with incomplete tasks and poor job performance.

You can protect your work time by setting up a consistent schedule for yourself. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it works for you and your kids. Try your best to complete work in that set time. And, try to complete it all at the same place, wherever your home workspace is.

Protecting your work time and space may look like saying no to a playdate during work hours or not allowing toys on your desk. You may need to communicate your work situation to your spouse, friends, family, and coworkers so that everyone can respect your efforts.

Be consistent and firm – it will be beneficial for you, your kids, and your job. It will be hard (and, of course, sickness and emergencies will naturally throw everything off), but protecting your work time and space will be good for your mind and productivity.

Set a Routine…and a Timer

Once you get the hang of your daily schedule, make sure you communicate it with your kids. Consider making a chart to show them each aspect of the day. You can use words or pictures, depending on their literacy levels, to show work time, nap time, lunchtime, reading time, etc. Letting them know what to expect will definitely help.

If they struggle to understand your need to work (or if you struggle to stop working when your designated work time is over), try setting a timer. Let the kids know that you will play with them as soon as the timer beeps. Then stick to that promise! The goal is not to work more; it’s to work efficiently so that you can get on with your day and enjoy time with your family!

Look for Help

There is never any shame in asking for help. In fact, finding the right kind of help is one of those “work smarter, not harder” tactics.

If you don’t have a family member who can offer regular, free babysitting, don’t worry. Many of us moms don’t have that kind of assistance available to us, and that’s okay. But that doesn’t mean you have to go without support completely! Look at your schedule and budget, and start asking around in your community and online and see if any of these options might suit you and your family’s needs:

• Hire a paid sitter a few times a week to occupy the kids! Because you are home, you may be able to hire a younger teen who might charge less, or you could possibly find a local college student who might have pockets of free time during that day. You could also look at care.com (but beware, this site has gotten pricier over the years). Of course, make sure you find someone safe and trustworthy, and pay fairly for what you are asking (someone who comes over for a few hours a week to play with kids will naturally be paid less than a nanny who would also handle transportation, meals, and enrichment activities.
• Look into a playgroup swap! This setup could be beneficial for a lot of moms in your area. If you haven’t heard of this concept, it centers around the idea of a traveling playgroup. One week, “Parent A” hosts all the kids for a few hours while the parents go home to work, run errands, etc. The next week it’s “Parent B’s” turn, and so on. It does mean that every so often you’ll have extra kids at your house, but then you’d get a few weeks off and have some alone time to work. If that sounds doable, chat about it with a small group of parents and try it out!
• Ask a friend! It can seem extremely daunting to ask a friend for help, but it shouldn’t be. We all need assistance sometimes. If you have a friend who you trust with your kids, don’t be ashamed to ask for occasional help watching your kids for an hour or so while you handle a big project. In return, offer to babysit her kids for her. She might really appreciate the opportunity to get her own to-do list done! Note: If you want regular childcare, even if only for a few hours a week, make sure to offer fair payment so that you don’t take advantage of this friendship.

Invite a Friend

This one might sound crazy, but hear us out. When you invite a playmate over for your child, you won’t be bombarded with questions and pleas for games nearly as much. Many moms can testify that this trick works!

Yes, you’ll still have to prepare meals and snacks and make sure everyone is being safe, but you’ll be surprised how much work you can get done without interruption when your child has a buddy to play with!

Bonus: You can combine this idea with the others and offer to swap kids with another work-from-home mom on a regular basis. You won’t have as many kiddos to watch as you would in a full playgroup swap, and both you and your fellow mom can get some productive time without paying for childcare.

Stations

While you work, you might wonder what your kids can do that will keep them occupied (other than hours of television and tablets). The answer is to pull out toys they already have (especially the forgotten ones) and set up fun stations around the house (or room, if you need to keep a closer eye on your kids and need them in the room with you).

You can make stations any way you like; the key is to create a system that kids can navigate on their own that will keep them engaged. Here are some suggestions for you:

1. Sensory bin
2. Crafts (crayons, paper, coloring books, stickers, etc.)
3. Legos
4. Magna-Tiles
5. Blocks
6. Babydolls or dollhouse
7. Marble run
8. Book corner

As long as these stations are age-appropriate and safe for your kids, you will be set! You will be surprised how much you can get done without interruption when you take a few minutes of prep work to set up interactive stations for the children!

Find the Best Solution for You!

Ultimately, working from home with children present is hard. We wish you the best of luck and encourage you to find the tactics that work well for you and your kids. We’ve all got work to do and we all have family duties to juggle, so never feel like you are alone.