So you decided to be a work from home mom but now it is about to be summertime. what do you do to keep your kids busy during summer while you’re working from home. this is a question that I am newly tackling and I wanted to share with you some ideas that I found on how to work from home and survive summer break.
Get Your Priorities Straight
The first thing you should do is figure out what your priorities are. During the school year it was easy. The kids were in school so you have most of the day to send out pitches, create graphics, have meetings by Zoom, and just have quiet, focus-time for the tasks at hand.
But now the kids will be home, oh no! How will you ever get anything done during the summer as a work at home mom? The kids will interrupt you, right and left, asking for food, snacks, rides to their friend’s houses, and calls of, ‘Please play with me, Mommy’.
However, see these interruptions as blessings. Isn’t that a part of the joy of being a mom? Your identity is not found in kids, but it’s also not found in your work. Your identity is found in Christ and who he has made you to be. A part of that is being a mom.
You can set your priorities straight by looking at your day and figuring out which part of the day you will be that business owner and which part of the day you will be a mom.
Hopefully, the larger part of the day will be you being mom for your kids because if they are home for summer break they are going to need you. That doesn’t mean that you need to take your whole day to spend with them nor that every second of the day you are an amusement park director.
How Can I Work From Home in Summer?
The best way I found to work from home in the summertime is to time block your day. When we talk about time blocking we are really thinking about the best time of the day for you to work. This will be your only way to be productive while kids are at home.
What time of day are you most productive?
If it is in the morning then segregate that time by getting up a little bit earlier and making sure that when your kids wake up they know the rules. The rules may be to stay in your bed until 6:00 a.m., stay in your room until 7:00 a.m., play quietly or simply do not disturb mom until 8:00 a.m. Don’t expect perfectly serene mornings, but it will be much better than if you didn’t put rules in place.
If your most productive time of the day is in the evening and then enjoy your mornings with your kids. You may want to make them a special breakfast and the morning slow until everyone is awake and alert. Breakfast under blankets sounds fun!
If you are able to do something like this at the opposite time from when you’re most
productive then you will be showing your kids love and that you are present with them. This will help them to be more understanding when you lay down the law and say after 8:00 pm mommy is not available because of work.
The best way that you can work from home in the summer will be to give rules around your time by time blocking.
How to Keep Kids Busy and Survive Summer Working From Home?
Now you are wondering, how do we keep kids busy during the summer while working from home? It’s easy to say ‘during this time mommy will be busy working’, but what will they be doing? It’s a scary thought but here are some ideas of how to plan your summer to avoid chaos.
- Trade off with your husband to monitor kids while you work
- Come up with a bucket list of ideas
- Create a boredom or idea jar
- Prepare a list of simple science experiments that do not need adult supervision
- Have regular play time outside (this should include you going outside with your kids)
- Create a chore chart that kids can accomplish on their own and you can check their work later
- Have regular office hours
- Have quiet time afternoons
- Schedule in family time so the kids can look forward to it
- Send kids to day camps
- Create moms-at-home co-op (you send your kids to another moms house and you trade off by taking their kids another day of the week)
If you decide to do the mom co-op, of course, you will need to be fully present and available. However, the best part about this is that kids are more occupied other kids. Also, I have found that my kids are generally better behaved and argue less with other kids in the mix.
Summer Calendar and Weekly Schedule
Having a weekly schedule and a daytime schedule of activities will go a long way to survive summer working from home. Not only will your kids have a routine and prevent them from going stir-crazy, but you can know that you aren’t leaving them without direction while you are working from home. When you are busy either working or taking care of the house the kids won’t be idle. Kids shouldn’t be idle, even during summer vacation.