Working from home (WFH) can be especially difficult for moms. If your kids have difficulty understanding that you’re working during the day, you might find yourself constantly juggling parenting responsibilities with work responsibilities.
- Define Your Working Space
If your kids are around while you’re working from home, you know that this creates lots of distractions. Between background noise and your kids interrupting you to ask questions, there are many ways that being a mom can make WFH difficult.
Making sure that you’re working in a space with a door that you can close during meetings or work sprints reduces the chances that someone can interrupt you.
Invest in some noise-canceling headphones if the noise is unavoidable and you can work through some louder distractions. Creating a signal so your family knows when you can’t be disturbed is a good strategy to cut down on interruptions.
Try these printable door hangers to signal when you’re in a meeting or working on something important.
You can offer alternatives (like asking for a text) from household members who can read and tell your little ones that the door hanger means that they should only interrupt for emergencies.
Please include attribution to QuickenLoans with this graphic.
- Take Strategic Breaks
You probably spend at least a couple of your WFH breaks taking care of your kids. This is a good way to sneak in some quality time, but it can also leave you just as tired after your break as you were before it.
Use this time to do something that both you and your kids can enjoy, from nature walks to quiet activities together. If you find something to do that you both enjoy, you’ll get the most out of this time together without returning to work drained.
- Combine Calendars
It’s a simple tip, but keeping one well-organized calendar to plan your work and personal responsibilities can be a lifesaver. It’s easy to forget playdates or doctor’s appointments when you’re planning, so having one calendar tells you at a glance what your responsibilities are each day.
Calendars are important because they help you track your personal and work goals. Make your calendar easy to read by using different colored pens for work and mom responsibilities. Try calendar printables, like the one below, to get you started if you’re not an organization pro yet.
Balancing work life and mom life is hard. These tips help you maintain boundaries so that you can succeed both professionally and as a parent.