With so many companies telling their employees to work from home right now, and schools and daycares closing, it's creating what may seem to be an unmanageable situation. Is it possible to get anything done during a work day with toddlers and screaming children running around?
Writer Lyz Lenz has some tongue in cheek advice for parents who are in this situation. These tips sound silly, but as a parent myself, a lot of this totally makes sense!
1. Have a snack area or snack drawer for kids so they can help themselves (i.e., not bother you every 20 minutes). Let it be a snack free-for-all, at least for as long as supplies last.
2. Really need to get through a phone call? Set a timer for 30 minutes of quietplay. They can run screaming to you when it goes off (just make sure your call is no longer than 29 minutes).
3. Plop them in the bathtub. If they’re little (need to be supervised) and you have a laptop, bring it in with you and get another 30 minutes of mostly uninterrupted work time.
4. “Pipe cleaners and tape,” ... “Don’t ask, just hand them over, the damage is minimal, I promise.”
5. This is a build-an-epic-fort situation if ever there was one.
6. Let them play with toilet paper. You’ve stocked up, you’ve got plenty to spare.
7. Let them tear up old magazines. We’re desperate here.
8. Let them color on themselves in washable marker.
9. Ignore them, let them be bored, etc.
10. “jfc who cares let them watch TV we are all just trying to live here.”