When Working From Home Means Working With Kids

When we started Marken Media Co. in our spare room in 2017, we just had two kids and even then the whole working from home thing was getting kind of tricky. Like most of you have found, a few days in and the new wears off and it's time to lay down some strategy if we're all going to make it.

Here are a few tips for playing the working from home with kids game: 

1. Distraction = Defense.
We recently made the best investment we have ever made. The return was instant, and it was incredible. No, no I'm not going all Dave Ramsey on you in this Marken email. I'm talking about Dollar Tree and their $1 children's kites. We took a trip over to Castroville's Regional Park with those bad boys and our kids had a blast. (I will confess we did lose one to a tree after a couple hours of play, but at $1 that kind of fun is still affordable). WFH Tip: Sometimes, you just have to join them.

2. It's All About Zone Coverage.
We are at a full 3:2 here at the Buckner house. Sometimes it's a "You take the boys, and I'll get the baby!" type of zone coverage. Other times, we plan ahead to allow one of us to be able to focus completely on work while the other is focused on the kids and home. WFH Tip: Teamwork makes the dream work.

3. Watch the Game Clock.
You know the saying, "The days are long, but the years are short"? Truth is, when working from home, we might have to lower our expectations for productivity during this season and choose to embrace the present. Even if that includes building rocket ships, eating popsicles right after breakfast, and cleaning up tiny pieces of construction paper off the floor from someone's craft project. WFH Tip: Work while they sleep. Wake up before them, and stay up past them.

We are no experts at this, we're just figuring it out right alongside you! How is your WFH experience been so far?