Brilliant ideas for effectively juggling telecommuting and children

Juggling telework and children

By Laurence Morency-Guay

Working from home while being able to have our children close to us may seem like an interesting option for reconciling family and professional life, but it is not easy and above all it requires good organization.

In order to juggle all the responsibilities, I recommend that you plan a schedule that is not rigid , that leaves room for more flexibility and that offers directions to take each day and each week.

How to keep the kids busy

Over a week, think about planning activities planned in advance in order to offer children a routine that includes a privileged moment with them where they are offered different ways of stimulating themselves according to different dimensions . These moments will allow the child to be busy and not to solicit you, allowing you to accomplish your professional tasks.

Here are some ideas:

Physical development:

• Provide a sheet of guided exercises to reproduce to move to music.
• Ask the children to organize an obstacle course with the outdoor equipment and time themselves in order to establish the best score.
• Suggest that the children place dish towels, washcloths and pieces of fabric on the floor; children will be able to jump from one to another like a frog.
• Have children place various (safe) objects of different sizes between their knees and attempt to cross a room or the backyard without dropping the object.
• Provide the little ones with something to blow bubbles that they must hunt and pierce.
• Give children brooms or mops and have them kick their socks off on the floor.
• Set targets (brains, baskets, large jars) at different distances into which the children must throw different objects.

Cognitive development:

• Ask the children to find flat rocks in the field, then suggest that they paint them with gouache and fine paintbrushes.
• Cover a wall at children's height with paper and offer them different kinds of crayons so that they can draw a mural.
• Scatter orphan socks on the floor and ask the children to match them.
• Fill a bucket with water and leave one empty. Ask the children to pour the water from one bucket to another with sponges.
• Give the children brushes of all sizes, a spray bottle of water and a bucket of water, then ask them to “paint” the walls of the house.

Socio-emotional development (if you have several children at home):

• Ask the children to collect different objects on a table. Everyone takes the time to observe them carefully, then close their eyes. The gamemaster makes one disappear. The others must find the missing one as quickly as possible.
• The child chooses an object in secret and, without being seen by others, makes noises using it: tapping or rubbing, scraping, pinching, blowing, etc. The others must therefore guess which object was used.
• Prepare in advance different themes with which children must improvise a play. Here are some suggested situations, found on the website www.pommedapi.com : we arrive at school and we realize that we are still in pajamas / we are waiting for the bus and it starts to rain very hard / the heating stops and it starts to get very cold in the house / in the restaurant, instead of the starter, we are brought dessert…