Can You Work at Home With Kids? 4 Tips for Parents Working From Home During the Coronavirus Pandemic Career Parenting

For many parents, working from home during coronavirus (COVID-19) means sharing an "office" with your children who are out of school or daycare due to the pandemic. Amy Kelly, National Director of Family Engagement at Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, offers tips to help make your workday more productive:

• Create a schedule for everyone: Set expectations for the day so your family knows what to expect. Try to model the day according to your children’s pre-COVID-19 schedule/school day. Schedule meals and breaks for the same time every day.

• Divide and conquer: Work with your spouse/partner or other family members living in your house to take shifts to split up homeschooling time and work time. This may provide needed flexibility to get your work done and keep the kids on track.

• Create a home workspace: Get creative – your home workspace doesn’t necessarily have to be a separate room, but perhaps, a corner of a room with a room divider and noise-cancelling headphones. 

• Most importantly, take things in stride: Be forgiving and kind to yourself and your children. We are all trying to adjust to a new normal. For a good laugh, watch this BBC News reporter give a live broadcast while trying to juggle working from home alongside his kids – it happens to us all! 

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