Which everyday task is tougher: braving rush hour traffic or working from home with a child? Little kids may be our bundles of joy, but the answer isn’t always clear-cut for everyone.

Parents see working at home as a win-win because they get to spend time with their kids while earning a living. However, this setup poses problems, especially when the child is at home during work hours.

If you’re having some difficulty in working from home with children, here are a few practical tactics you can use.

Hire a sitter

Having a sitter means having someone look after your child while you work, allowing you to focus on your paid tasks. If you can afford it, aim for an arrangement where the sitter works during your office hours.

Ask them to not interrupt

Provided that your kids are old enough to understand and keep themselves occupied, you’ll need to ask them avoid interrupting you while you work. They won’t be able to help themselves at first, but you can teach them gradually.

To encourage them to do this, say they’re part of your super group (like the Avengers or Justice League!) and their assignment is to help you stay focused on work.

Wake up really early

It’s a great time to work when your kids are asleep – this almost certainly means no interruptions! One way to ensure this is to wake up an hour or two before they do. Your success, however, will depend on your work.

• If you have flexible hours, earlier mornings should give you some quiet work time. The earlier you rise, the more uninterrupted work time you’ll have.
  
  
• If you have a fixed 8-hour schedule, waking up earlier wouldn’t be enough. You’ll need more options to make productive work possible.

Take the graveyard shift

This approach might be more effective because children sleep at night, but success would depend on two factors:

• Your kids’ age (e.g. newborns sleep most but feed frequently; babies only start sleeping through the night at 3 months old).
  
  
• If you really do have an option to work at night.

Just remember that if you work nights, your children will wake you up during the day, so you’ll need to plan your schedule.

Teach and encourage independent play

Independent play means just that – your child plays without you or anyone else around. This shouldn’t be a problem for school-age kids, but teaching and encouraging younger ones would take some time and patience.

But if you persist, the benefits go beyond giving you uninterrupted work; it actually helps children develop.

Practice different scenarios

To reduce the odds of your young child getting in the way of your work, practice common work situations with them. For example:

• If Mommy or Daddy is looking intently at the computer screen and you want something, do you scream or politely ask for their attention?
  
  
• If Mommy or Daddy is on the phone, do you scream or quietly wait until they’re finished with the call?

Expect this to be difficult in the beginning, but your kids will eventually catch on and give you some quiet time for work.

Enforce nap time

Naptime is crucial to your child’s physical and mental development. Plus, implementing a consistent nap schedule will give you some quiet time for work.

Just make sure you don’t have your little one sleep too close to bedtime, otherwise they’ll have difficulty falling asleep at night – which means you won’t get your rest until they do.

Ask the help of family and friends

Whether you’re alone or with a partner, you’ll still need help from people close to you, especially if your youngster is on summer vacation. So reach out to family/friends to help you look after your child when you’re working.

If they need help with their own kids, you can set up a sitting co-op where one parent would host a play date with the kids during your work hours, then you’ll return the favour on your free time.

Use a carrier

If you’re caring for a baby, keep them close to you while working. One effective way to do this is via a baby carrier. With this setup, your little one is on your chest hearing your heartbeat (which they find soothing) while you work the keyboard.

Reward good behavior

Don’t forget to reward your kids when they successfully meet goals (e.g. staying behaved, playing independently). This positively reinforces good behavior. Some reward ideas include:

• Going out to buy ice cream.
• Watching a movie (with popcorn!).
• Baking something together.

The best part of all this? You get to spend more quality time with them.

Relish the moment

As a parting tip, see to it that you consciously savor this opportunity. Working from home while taking care of your kids may feel challenging at that very moment, but don’t miss the chance to engage with them during this early part of their lives.

Even with the structure in place (like a fixed schedule and/or time-tracking software), look for a chance to log off and see why your little one is giggling; it may be one of their firsts.