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4 Tips to Work From Home with kids around: How to work from home if you have kids.

Coronavirus cases are surging in India and close to 300 people are found to be infected in the country. The federal govt. announced a country wide lockdown shutting all Schools and Colleges across India to stop the community spread. Govt. has also advised people to shy away from non-essential travel. 

Social distancing has been the primary focus of the govt, and hence govt. issued advisories to private companies to allow the workforce to work from home. Thousands of parents are now working from home. Hence the working mom's and dad's are now concerned on balancing the work and home with kids around. It was common to work a single day from home when the child was sick, but continuous work from home has become a challenge. 

Here are some tips to help you balance work and home life with your kids around. 

Make a schedule 

Replicate a schedule for kids much like in School and for yourself similar to your office will be extremely beneficial to the kids and you. It is purely impossible to work when kids are around urging you to join them when they play. 

Assign your kids some tasks and get them occupied with the school stuff. Make everyday a regular day, where kids wake up at a routine time much like they did when they start preparing for the day for school, let them eat breakfast, and get dressed. The same schedule you can replicate if you have a toddler who use to go to a day care centre. 

Set a Laxman Rekha with your kids 

Since now you are working from home with kids around, I suggest you to set boundaries with kids. Your kids probably watch to play indoors more, watch television which shall be fine, but tell them that this is not the regular lifestyle and will change once life resumes to normalcy. 

Give a clarity to your kids when you don't want to interrupted. Have a space for yourself where you can quietly work from home.

Alternate the shift with your partner

More crucial if you and your partner both are working from home and you need to day care your kids at the time of lockdown. If you can alternate your shifts with your partner work from home will be very easy. 

One of the partner can wake up early in the evening, work for few hours and the other can wake up with kids, prepare the meals. This can help the partners in managing the time. If this is not at all possible then planning and scheduling the shifts is the best available alternative to you. Importantly as soon as one partner is up, make sure to clean the area that's now full of toys, so you have a lot of space available while working. 

Give a clarity to your colleagues and clients

Imagine you're on a call with a client or colleagues and your kids just walks in? Well, this is expected while you are working from home with kids around. Remember this video? You are on a conference and kids join you? 

You don't want to be embarrassed and hence communicate with your client and colleagues that kids can walk in while you are on a call.