A normal day in your household is all about finding a balance between your work and home life; juggling a million different tasks and chores all at once is something you quickly became accustomed to as a mom who regularly works from home. Usually, you’re trying to answer emails whilst fixing a snack for your little one or you’re desperately trying to finish off a project whilst entertaining a toddler. As tiring as it is, you wouldn’t change your life for the world. Being a working from home mom is incredibly rewarding and there are so many advantages you would never take for granted. Whether you’re building your own business or working for a corporate company from home full time, you are probably always looking for new ways to keep your kids entertained whilst you tick off your to-do list. Although the job will never be easy, here are a handful of ideas to get you started!
1. Movies and Documentaries
No matter how young or old your little one is, you can never go wrong with a classic movie or educational documentary. If you’re hoping to get a little bit of quiet time during your busy working day, you can save and play MP4 movie and documentaries to your computer or tablet. This is guaranteed to capture the attention of your child and give you a little bit of respite whilst you navigate working from home as a mom.
2. Crafts
Setting up a structured craft activity for your child is a brilliant way to keep them occupied and stimulate their mind for a short time whilst you get on with some work. Whether you’re making cards for an upcoming celebration or allowing them to get creative with some free craft work, you can allow their artistic skills to shine.
3. Cooking or Messy Play
Depending on the age of your child, you could set up some simple cooking, decorating or messy play tasks in an area of your home. For example, you could allow them to apply icing and decor to cookies that have already been pre-made. They will feel incredibly proud of themselves once they have achieved their goal!
4. Role Play
Role play is a brilliant way to allow imaginative play in your child. Presenting your child with dolls, figurines or characters and setting up a fictional world for them to play in is a great way to buy yourself some time as you work from home. Whether they’re pretending to be at doctor’s surgery getting a check up, or they’re playing schools with their teddies, there is so much fun to be had with a role-playing activity.
5. Reading
There are a few different benefits with regards to reading to your children and teaching them the basics from an early age. Even if your child isn’t old enough to read by themselves, why not set them tasks to help them brush up on their skills? For example, you could create an alphabet treasure hunt for around the house. Collecting objects that begin with certain letters of the alphabet is a great way to help them recognize letters and it keeps them busy! If your little ones aren’t quite at this stage yet, why not play an audio book for them to listen to? Give them the physical book to hold and play the audio book out loud so that they can start to get a feel for reading and the joys it can bring.
As you can see, there are a whole host of different games, tasks and set-ups you can create for your little one so you can enjoy some much-needed stints of quiet time in your home as you work. Remember, your little ones will be attracted to certain activities depending on their age and abilities, so always keep this in mind. The balancing act of being a stay-at-home working mom will never be easy, but you will always count your blessings everyday as you get to spend a lot of time with the people you love the most. Be kind to yourself, and remember not to overload yourself with tasks that could be left for the next day. Being a mom will always be your number one priority, so keep this in mind every time you feel those overwhelming moments of stress. Take a deep breath, think about the bigger picture and allow yourself to calmly carry on with the most important job of all; being a mom to your beautiful children.