Three Tips For Improving Your Focus If You’re A Parent Working From Home

As more companies allow their employees to work from home, you may find it beneficial for you because you can also spend more time with your family. However, improving focus can be challenging, especially if you have small children. You juggle your errands, household chores, and childcare with your work.

It is challenging to work if your children try to catch your attention every time. Distractions at home can be a headache because it pulls down your productivity level. However, it is possible to improve your focus with the following tips.

Eliminate External Distractions

It can be challenging to get rid of distractions, but you need to maintain your focus. While it is understandable that you need to multi-task, eliminating unnecessary distractions, such as phone calls, text messages, and social media, can help you finish your tasks.

Turning off your phone while you work can help you forget about Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. If you need your phone for emergencies, you can disable the notifications from distracting apps. While you may think that scrolling through your feed will not break your concentration, you do not realize that you are checking your devices frequently.

Checking for notifications on your device can interrupt your flow of thought. You may find it more challenging to return to your task once you lose focus. You can create the right mindset to get back to work and finish it.

Moreover, you may also discover that your home environment may not be conducive to working. If you do not have a home office or a secluded area for you to work in, you can buy a divider or noise-canceling headphones to help you focus.

Find Time and Focus on Work

Work from home parents have a challenging time working uninterrupted. If you have a child, you will discover that ten undisturbed minutes is precious. You also need to ensure that your kid has the best care and attention and your house is in order. You complete your errands and take care of the plants and pets.

If you cannot work continuously for long hours, you can find blocks of time to focus. For instance, if your child has in-person or virtual classes, you can use the time to turn off your devices to concentrate on finishing your project. You will discover that you work quickly and efficiently if you know that you only have a few hours until the end of your child’s class.

If you and your partner both work from home, you may schedule alternating blocks of focused time to attend to the child.

Activities to Keep Your Children Busy So You Can Work

Here are some ideas that you can try with your children, so you can focus on finishing your work:

• Age Group: Three years and under 

1. Making bubbles with water and dish soap.
2. Give an old keyboard to your toddler and pretend you are working together.
3. Use an educational tablet or phone apps for more interactive screen time.
4. Provide sidewalk chalk your kid can use on your paths because they are easier to clean.
5. Let the imagination fly with a decent-sized cardboard box that can be anything like a house or a spaceship.
6. Allow your kid to watch live videos of animals from your favorite aquariums and zoos.

• Age Group: Four to seven years old

1. Fun yoga for children has several themes that they may like.
2. Allow your kids to create a show that they can perform for you after you finish work.
3. Let them read educational books, listen to audiobooks, or watch movies they like.
4. Give them art materials that they can use while watching videos that teach them how to draw.

• Age Group: Eight to 12 years old

1. Check some authors for children’s books because they read or teach kids.
2. Let them read e-books or listen to podcasts for kids.
3. Have them use practical physics to experiment.
4. Allow them to record their videos using the slow-motion feature of your device.

• Teens

1. Let them play cooperative games online that use strategic thinking, storytelling, and socializing.
2. Boost their desire to learn to program using home coding resources.
3. Allow them to use free website editors to design and write a site for their favorite shows or bands.
4. Use a bodyweight training app without equipment requirements for some exercise.
5. Inspire them to search and listen for appropriate podcasts related to their hobbies and interests.
6. Motivate them to find their passion by experimenting with baking, decorating, cooking, gardening, DIY, and other skills they want to develop.

Involve the Family

You can finish your tasks if you involve the whole family. Communication is essential for them to understand the situation. You can talk to everyone about respecting your focused blocks of time to do what you have to do. You must explain to them that you want to spend time with them, but you also need to work. You can complete your errands or household chores at the end of your block.

An excellent way of showing how you love them is spending time with them or hugging them before and after each of your focused blocks. It is vital to let them know that you need some time alone. 

Every family is unique, and so is each job. If you need to work from home, you need to make the necessary adjustments, especially if you have small children who always want some of your attention. These three tips can help you finish your tasks and spend more time with your family too.

About the Author

Charlie Svensson is an engaging and proficient essay writer online, and he is into blogging and content writing. His forte includes social media, education, SEO, marketing, self-growth, and motivation blogging. He can adapt to reach various audiences.