Comments on: Reader question: How should I approach a shifting work-from-home schedule?

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 17:36:01 +0000

In reply to Harmony@CreatingMyKaleidoscope. @Harmony- thanks for posing the question! I'm always in favor of time tracking. And I find that 9-noon tends to be my focused time too. The kids are all out of the house during then, and I have tried to be disciplined enough to focus on what most needs to get done during that time. I just got a lunch break with my 2-year-old, which was nice.

By: Harmony@CreatingMyKaleidoscope

Harmony@CreatingMyKaleidoscope — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 15:33:22 +0000

Thank you for all of this helpful advice!!

Also – good idea to do another time tracking now that schedules have changed.

It will likely take us a little while to figure out the perfect system for us. For now, I tend to be most focused in the morning, from about nine to noon, so that is my do-not-disturb time. Then, I can take a little break for lunch and fill in the afternoon/evening with other chunks of time for working. I like the idea of having set non-working hours too.

My mother wants to come over and help, but usually just ends up trying to visit. And Mr. Smith doesn’t like trying to take care of kids together with her. That’s something we can think about too.

By: ARC

ARC — Sat, 25 Nov 2017 20:02:38 +0000

Another suggestion – potentially schedule a morning or afternoon to work elsewhere on stuff that needs more concentration – library, coffee shop, drop-in coworking space, etc.

Our situation was a bit different – both hubby and I worked from home at the same time, but our kids were at preschool/K all day. We each had separate offices with doors and rarely just “dropped in” to chat with the other parent, to avoid distractions and work as much as we could before the kids needed to be picked up. We swapped kid dropoffs and pickup so one of us could work until dinnertime each day and one could start earlier and not have to deal with getting the girls ready/fed in the morning. But we have only 2 kids 🙂

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Sat, 25 Nov 2017 00:42:43 +0000

In reply to Calee Lee.

@Calee – weekly meetings are a good idea for couples in many situations – working from home included!

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Sat, 25 Nov 2017 00:39:42 +0000

In reply to Johanna.

@Johanna – I like the ear plugs + a signal for when you’re really needed. Because yes, otherwise it’s easy to get pulled into various kid drama.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 21:47:28 +0000

I loved the advice you gave and thought I could pass on some thoughts being the mom of twins myself ( mine are 2.5 years now ).
1) Earplugs or headphones. Its hard to continue to work if you are mentally being pulled back to what’s going on upstairs because of the noise. And it always sounds worse when you don’t have the visual cues to understand what you are hearing. If her husband had a way to get her attention if really needed, decided on ahead of time, then she could ignore anything else without worry.
2) Childcare. A babysitter that comes from time to time. That could be for a date night, lunch, coffee or the like? To give her husband a break from childcare at times during the day? Or her some space at the end of the work day without her feeling like she “has” to get right upstairs and help? Or even to run some of the older ones around without bringing the younger siblings.
3)Back up help. Having someone to call on for one off situations. (the family gets the flu on the same day as a big work commitment, someone has to go to emergency for stitches, etc ) similar to a backup care arrangement that you might have if out of the house for work. Or alternatively a work back up person, that can be counted on to cover in a pinch if she is needed at home.

By: Meghan

Meghan — Wed, 22 Nov 2017 18:47:07 +0000

What a great question, and great advice! Two other things that may help are 1. making sure to keep letting her husband do things however he does things (I’m sure she will, as he’s probably done just fine all along, but sometimes being around means you suddenly *know* how things have been handled, and it’s different from the way you’d handle it, and, well, it can be hard to not step in) and 2. come up with templates.
It’s just an extension of a daily rhythm — she could have her court day schedule, and her home day schedule, and her lots-of-calls-and-meetings day schedule. I find making these kinds of plans in 2-hour blocks makes them the most flexible, especially when a day gets split between two different focuses.

By: Calee Lee

Calee Lee — Wed, 22 Nov 2017 16:56:43 +0000

When my husband started working from home (with me) we instituted weekly planning meetings. We discuss everybody’s schedules, family life first, meal plan, then work, and put it all on a weekly paper calendar that goes on the refrigerator.
Since he was working long hours outside of the house, he didn’t know about who went where on which day– and so didn’t have the information needed to schedule work optimally. Laying out expectations for the week has been supremely helpful for our marriage and work.