How to entertain your kids while working at home
If it’s a challenge to take care of the kids every day, and it’s an odyssey to keep the house in order and take care of the kids, it seems like an impossible challenge to work at home while taking care of the little ones, doesn’t it?
It seems, but it’s not impossible. It requires very good organization and yes, to walk a little more tired, but being a mother that is on the watch of children and being productive financially from our home, is possible.
The first thing is to talk to them.
It’s not always achieved the first time, but it’s important for them to know and understand that you’re a working mom, and that that time you spend on the computer, on the phone or doing other things, it’s not because you don’t want to play with them, but because you’re working to give them everything they need.
That said, we share a list of activities that little ones can do at home while you work so that TV or tablet doesn’t become their best friends. Obviously everything under your frequent supervision:
Paint/Draw
If your kids have more art skills than they do for other things, it shows. They can have a good time painting, drawing or creating things with their hands. But to know it, you have to develop that sensitivity in them. It’s very easy, you just need paper, colors and paints. Let them let their imaginations run wild, experiment and make their own creations.
Just as we are working while they believe, it is important that the paint is washable, non-toxic and that the colors or downs are also washable and not so pointed that they can be hurt.
Extra tip for the most worried moms: if children scratch the wall or stain the floor and blankets, calm, breathe! everything has a solution, everything can be cleaned, but don’t cut the inspiration of your children.
Assemble legos or cubes
Similarly, when children don’t have as much interest in art, you can tell. Maybe yours is another kind of creativity, like building things and creating “worlds.” This is clear when it comes to playing with cubes or legos. If children have patience and interest in this type of game, it is because they are developing another hemisphere in their brain, different from the hemisphere that includes sensitivity to art.
All right, let’s just look at what your little one likes the most and take advantage of those tools to keep them entertained and we keep working.
Looking for things
Another fun game that can keep little ones entertained for a while is hiding and finding objects. Just like the Easter egg-seeking game, we can hide other toys, and even give them clues.
Another version could be to play “The King Asks” that old game that surely all of us play in our childhood and that consists of taking the king – in this case to the queen – all those objects that we request. This game applies for when we shouldn’t have all our concentration at work.
Private lessons
If you have the economic possibility to pay private classes at home, you should take advantage of it. For a person to come to our home and teach our children something new instead of having them doing the same thing all the time, is a great idea. These classes can be music, languages, art, martial arts, cooking, etc. There are teachers for everything and students for everything. This time when children will be under the supervision of someone else, you can make the most of it to keep working.
It’s always a great idea to assemble a group of kids with the same interest so that this person classes everyone and your child, in addition to learning, to live with other people. Coordinate with other moms you trust, they can take turns weekly in different houses.
His first paid job
The best way to explain that what you do daily has financial retribution is to pay them for doing small tasks at home. This is obviously better understood over the years, but you have to start at some point.
Ask them to lift their dirty fret from the table and wash them, order their toys, lift all their dirty laundry and put it in the washing machine. Constant tasks for which you can pay them in some way: with money that they save for some toy they want (by the way you show them the value of savings), with one way to the cinema at the end of the week, with those sweets that they love so much, etc.
Giving-receive is a good lesson we can teach our children and they learn to value more that time that we are not with them because we are working.
Bicycle/Skates
If you have a house with a garden or garage, or if you live in a condominium with safe spaces for children, and you also have the possibility to work while they play (such as a laptop or cell phone with internet connection, to say the most) you have to take advantage of it.
Outdoor activities, preferably in contact with nature, strengthen children’s cognitive development. Another example of that “back to the basics” that I both defend and promote.
So if you can apply “one eye to the cat and one to the doodle,” do it and let your kids enjoy it while you work sitting on a bench.
Reading
Unfortunately, the habit of reading, as with most games, is not acquired if it is not instilled. Tell your children about the importance of reading, researching, knowing more about certain topics, not being ignorant. With a few minutes dedicated daily to reading, it is enough to strengthen this habit, which you will need in your adult life, especially in university life.
Take them to a bookstore to choose the books they want, and then push them to read them. Now there are also e-books. If your kids already fully understand that a device is not only for playing or watching videos, it can also be read… buy them digital books, cheaper and much more in our children’s modern forms.
Playing with neighbors/friends
If you live in a condominium or street with more children, it’s always good to make friends that you can frequent because of physical closeness. If you trust your neighbors enough to let your kids play a little while at the neighbors’ house, do it. Or as if to invite them to play at home, do it. As I mentioned earlier, socialization and knowing that you have people who support you and support you is important.
Kids playing with other kids, time to keep working.
Go to the park
Similar to the previous point, if you don’t have neighbors your children’s age or there are no outdoor spaces where you live, it’s always a good option to take them to the park. Here you gain two points: socialization with unknown children and outdoor exposure. However, and it is very important, you cannot fully immerse yourself in your work, because being in public places you have to take more care of our children than in other conditions. Assess how much you have to do to decide whether or not to take your little ones to the park.
If you haven’t managed to finish all your earrings, take it easy.
You can always finish everything or at least move forward when the kids sleep. It’s not easy to be an entrepreneurial or freelance mother, sometimes it can be more tired than having a full-time schedule in a company. Both have their pros and cons, so the best thing we can do is organize as we see fit, so that we can be working mothers and teach our children the value of work.
Do you have any idea what activity children can do while we work? Share it with all of us. Thank you!
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