Coronavirus/COVID-19 seems to be all we are hearing about, leading to worry about doing our part to "flatten the curve." In order to do that, schools are closed, people are asked to work from home and "social distancing" is the new hot phrase. Which means, if you're like me, you are pulling double duty at home with work and a baby home from daycare.
Some of you might be WFH or Double Duty pro's, and have your own hacks (please share). But for those of you new to this game, I'm sharing the three main things we are doing around the Byrne household to keep sane while keeping quarantined. We hope this can help out our fellow Scholar Raise community! I'll link out to other parent blogs/Instagram accounts that I think are super helpful and will follow up with a full list of activities for kids in our next blog.
Family Meeting
Have a clear & honest chat with everyone about what is going on in the world, concerns, how it will affect your lives and so on. Agree on clear boundaries/rules so that everyone can be on the same page with expectations. Here are a few things we agreed to:
- We should still go outside! We just aren't going to places where we touch things (stores, movies, restaurants, playgrounds). Instead, we are going for walks in our woods, the local beach (if it's empty of people) and even the neighborhood.
- We are keeping a 6 foot radius from people we do encounter on our outings
- Everyone washes hands & faces as soon as we walk in the door
- STRICT no visitors rule, unless they've followed the same rules as above for 2 weeks. (This might be super strict, but we really want to be careful.)
- Set expectations about working/school from home and what that means. For us, that means tag teaming our baby while the other tackles work and sticking to a flexible schedule. More on that below.
- We will reassess as new (credible) information emerges.
Create WORK spaces
Whether this is for you and/or your kids, have a place that is JUST for working/school. Naturally, this is dependent on the space that you have available to you, but try to separate places of rest from places of work. If you're in a studio, try to get away from your bed and face a window. If you have more space, try to get out of your bedroom and away from your couch. If I'm working from my couch, I get a little too cozy or become tempted to have TV on in the background...which eventually steals my attention. But having a separate space feels like I'm "going" to work... even if it's only 3 feet away.
Talkspace has a great article on this and ways to help you get set up.
We just moved, but we threw together this space to help us stay focused, don't mind the left behind curtains.
Set a "Schedule"
It's easy when you're working from home to roll through the day like it's the weekend, which makes it mentally harder to be productive! Consider putting together a flexible schedule for yourself and your family. For your kids, this can address things like school from home, chores and playtime. Whereas yours can incorporate getting out of your jammies, clear working times, meals, exercise and downtime. We also try to assign "duties" based on who has what going on. If I'm light on meetings, I'll pick up running meal time and vice versa when I'm slammed. If your kids are older and can focus longer without needing your full attention, consider having them do school work or chores if you/both of you need to be in meetings.
- @TimHeidecker and @TheMamaNotes have schedule options for toddlers and older children.
- Here's the Blended Byrne Schedule with an 11 month old - I like this approach because our day feels more meaningful than a sick day where all you accomplished was binge watching a tv show.
Try working these things out and finding your own rhythm. I know it can be challenging finding enough things to do with children of any age, which is why our next blog covers a variety of activities you can try out. Watch this space!
As we work through these new and challenging times, we encourage everyone to take the time to nurture your body, soul, mind and social connections. We can get through this, and we look forward to hearing what's working for you and what support you need. Keep calm, keep clean and carry on... from home.
Ashley Byrne
