Balancing Parenting with Work.
Being a parent and balancing the demands of work is stressful at the best of times. But the impact of the coronavirus has added a whole new meaning to the phrase “work-life balance”. Just how to do you juggle a job with being a teacher, homemaker, partner, parent and just an all-round good human being! It’s not just people that work outside of the home that have been affected; if your job is running the household and looking after the kids, how do you cope with suddenly having your home turned into an office, kindergarten or school?
YouTube and Tick Tock are full of videos showing parents trying to keep up appearances in the virtual office whilst being interrupted by their children asking questions, saying something they shouldn’t or having a meltdown. A recent USA survey reported that only 48% of employees felt well prepared to work from home. Not everyone will have a dedicated office space in the family home or access to adequate childcare.
There are several things that you can do that will help to alleviate some of the stress of working and parenting at this unusual time.
Review Your Family Schedule
Without school to help structure your day, one of the best ways of reducing stress for everyone is to have a daily schedule. Depending on the age of your children there will be certain times of the day that will be much more hectic than other times. Once you are clear about the children’s schedule this will help you to have a conversation with your manager about how you would like to structure your day. It might be easier to schedule important calls or videoconferencing meetings in the morning before the children get up. Alternatively, you might need to alter your workday so that you take some hours off during the day to look after the children and help with schoolwork and make up the time in the evening once the children are in bed.
Agree Your Work Schedule with Your Partner
It is essential that if both parents are working from home that you agree on who will be responsible for supervising the children at different times during the day. Trying to fit the children into your schedule will probably make family life more stressful and tempers are likely to fray. Knowing that you have specific times in the day that you can focus solely on work will help you to prioritize important tasks and maintain your productivity.
Suggest Shorter Meetings
It would be helpful to let your line manager know what time of day a good time for you would be to join team meetings and importantly suggest shorter meeting times. Shorter meetings with a focused agenda are much more effective than longer meetings and importantly can free up more time help you to stay on track with your job. If you have young children, it will be much easier to keep them occupied for 15 – 30 minutes at time as opposed to an hour and will be much less stressful for everyone.
Manage Your Stress
Not everyone has the support or infrastructure that allows them to work from home and be as productive as they are in the office. So, don’t be too hard on yourself if you feel that you are not performing to the best of your ability. We are living in very uncertain times and business leaders and managers will need to find more creative and flexible solutions to support employees trying to juggle work and childcare needs. It is important that you make time for yourself to keep your stress levels under control.
How Can We Help?
Working from home and looking after your children (who have also had their lives turned upside down) is stressful. If you’re not used to having your partner at home with you all day every day this can also be quite a difficult adjustment all of which can lead to an increase in arguments and tension in the home. Counselling can be a great way of helping to reduce stress levels, keep perspective, and improve communication. We are currently offering online counseling via a secure HIPAA compliant platform.
Cheryl Warsama, Counseling Psychologist, Vivamus.