How to entertain a child while working from a home office
Website design By BotEap.comThere’s no question that the benefits of being a work-at-home parent outweigh the drawbacks. However, some days can be tough when your two-year-old is determined to climb on top of your filing cabinet while you’re trying to get on an important conference call.
Here are ten tips that can help make your life easier and your little ones happy, while working from home. Website design By BotEap.comSet up a small desk for your little assistant in your home office, close enough so you can keep an eye on it, but far enough away so you can focus on your work. Website design By BotEap.comTell your child that he is your personal assistant-in-training and emphasize how important it is to him to have this title and his own area of work. Website design By BotEap.comGive your child some tools similar to those on your desk. Carefully select only the safest items that are virtually indestructible. Your child’s active imagination and natural curiosity can easily lead to disaster if he gets his hands on the wrong device. Website design By BotEap.comGive your new assistant important job responsibilities. Young children love to imitate adults, especially their parents. Depending on the type of business you operate from home, you can imagine tasks that reflect what your child sees you doing every day. Website design By BotEap.comOne chore that can delight your toddler is opening the mail. Give the child junk mail, ads, or anything else they don’t want to read. Provide a small trash can or a place for him to throw the envelope if that’s what he usually does. Website design By BotEap.comAnother job that can excite your child and potentially occupy them for over an hour is organizing their outdated files, old business cards, duplicate copies, drafts, and any other inconsequential paperwork. The key to this little task is to place the files to be organized in a basket or file cabinet and provide an empty desk drawer or old briefcase for your toddler to transfer papers to and from, possibly repeatedly. If you can focus on her work and train your new assistant at the same time, you can stimulate her thinking by starting to count the papers she’s moving from the basket to the desk drawer. Website design By BotEap.comA must-have item for your new little employee is a notepad or notebook similar to the kind you use for taking notes and crayons (if you’re okay with such a “childish” writing instrument). Encourage your child to draw a picture for you, and be sure to praise the finished product. The more compliments they hear from you, the more your child will want to keep creating special pictures for you, or for Grandma, Aunt Jeannie, Uncle Timmy, etc. Take a short break or make it a routine to hang your child’s masterpieces in her office at the end of the day. He will feel that he accomplished something that made you proud. Let your child help you paste her work on the side of your desk or on the wall. You’ll be surprised how intrigued your toddler is with the tape! Website design By BotEap.comA whiteboard is an easy and inexpensive addition to your home office that you may never need, but your assistant-in-training will probably use it every day. If you buy the large sidewalk chalk, your child will be less likely to decide to try the brightly colored sticks. If he or she tries to bite, the chances of choking are reduced with these thick pieces of chalk. Make a production by adding this new item to your office. Pretend you need it to use it to record your daily business reminders. Your child will be most eager to get their little hands on something that they see you wearing. A word of warning: Although this inexpensive addition to your office may offer a new outlet for your child’s creativity, it will usually lead to the need for a quick bathroom at the end of the work day! Website design By BotEap.comThere are some items that are actually “toys” but can pass as “tools” (similar to the machines you use every day) to add to your new assistant’s desk. Several toy companies make mini versions of adult products, such as small battery-powered computers designed to teach your child the alphabet or animal sounds; phones that ring by themselves and answer your child; and musical keyboards that play melodies automatically and also let your toddler make their own tunes. Your toddler can be content to imitate you with toys, like these, that look or sound just like their desktop devices. Website design By BotEap.comDepending on the location of your office, the layout of your home, and your child’s level of independence, you may be able to designate tasks that require him to leave his office to find a phone book for you or to locate that large envelope you need. It came in the mail the other day. You can deliberately forget to collect all the items you’ll need to complete your work that day or you can ask your little assistant to find items that he doesn’t really need right away. Young children usually like to look for things, especially when they think they are helping mom or dad. Be sure to thank your child and congratulate her on being able to find exactly what she wanted!
Here are ten tips that can help make your life easier and your little ones happy, while working from home. Website design By BotEap.comSet up a small desk for your little assistant in your home office, close enough so you can keep an eye on it, but far enough away so you can focus on your work. Website design By BotEap.comTell your child that he is your personal assistant-in-training and emphasize how important it is to him to have this title and his own area of work. Website design By BotEap.comGive your child some tools similar to those on your desk. Carefully select only the safest items that are virtually indestructible. Your child’s active imagination and natural curiosity can easily lead to disaster if he gets his hands on the wrong device. Website design By BotEap.comGive your new assistant important job responsibilities. Young children love to imitate adults, especially their parents. Depending on the type of business you operate from home, you can imagine tasks that reflect what your child sees you doing every day. Website design By BotEap.comOne chore that can delight your toddler is opening the mail. Give the child junk mail, ads, or anything else they don’t want to read. Provide a small trash can or a place for him to throw the envelope if that’s what he usually does. Website design By BotEap.comAnother job that can excite your child and potentially occupy them for over an hour is organizing their outdated files, old business cards, duplicate copies, drafts, and any other inconsequential paperwork. The key to this little task is to place the files to be organized in a basket or file cabinet and provide an empty desk drawer or old briefcase for your toddler to transfer papers to and from, possibly repeatedly. If you can focus on her work and train your new assistant at the same time, you can stimulate her thinking by starting to count the papers she’s moving from the basket to the desk drawer. Website design By BotEap.comA must-have item for your new little employee is a notepad or notebook similar to the kind you use for taking notes and crayons (if you’re okay with such a “childish” writing instrument). Encourage your child to draw a picture for you, and be sure to praise the finished product. The more compliments they hear from you, the more your child will want to keep creating special pictures for you, or for Grandma, Aunt Jeannie, Uncle Timmy, etc. Take a short break or make it a routine to hang your child’s masterpieces in her office at the end of the day. He will feel that he accomplished something that made you proud. Let your child help you paste her work on the side of your desk or on the wall. You’ll be surprised how intrigued your toddler is with the tape! Website design By BotEap.comA whiteboard is an easy and inexpensive addition to your home office that you may never need, but your assistant-in-training will probably use it every day. If you buy the large sidewalk chalk, your child will be less likely to decide to try the brightly colored sticks. If he or she tries to bite, the chances of choking are reduced with these thick pieces of chalk. Make a production by adding this new item to your office. Pretend you need it to use it to record your daily business reminders. Your child will be most eager to get their little hands on something that they see you wearing. A word of warning: Although this inexpensive addition to your office may offer a new outlet for your child’s creativity, it will usually lead to the need for a quick bathroom at the end of the work day! Website design By BotEap.comThere are some items that are actually “toys” but can pass as “tools” (similar to the machines you use every day) to add to your new assistant’s desk. Several toy companies make mini versions of adult products, such as small battery-powered computers designed to teach your child the alphabet or animal sounds; phones that ring by themselves and answer your child; and musical keyboards that play melodies automatically and also let your toddler make their own tunes. Your toddler can be content to imitate you with toys, like these, that look or sound just like their desktop devices. Website design By BotEap.comDepending on the location of your office, the layout of your home, and your child’s level of independence, you may be able to designate tasks that require him to leave his office to find a phone book for you or to locate that large envelope you need. It came in the mail the other day. You can deliberately forget to collect all the items you’ll need to complete your work that day or you can ask your little assistant to find items that he doesn’t really need right away. Young children usually like to look for things, especially when they think they are helping mom or dad. Be sure to thank your child and congratulate her on being able to find exactly what she wanted!