Blog home
Business
Business tips

How to work from home with kids like a boss

6 min read
Calculator placeholder

Send from

Enter the country or currency you want to send money from.

Popular

All countries

EUR Austria
EUR Belgium
EUR Croatia
EUR Cyprus
CZK Czech Republic
EUR Czech Republic
DKK Denmark
EUR Denmark
EUR Estonia
EUR Finland
EUR France
EUR Germany
EUR Greece
HUF Hungary
EUR Hungary
ISK Iceland
EUR Iceland
EUR Ireland
EUR Italy
EUR Latvia
EUR Liechtenstein
EUR Lithuania
EUR Luxembourg
EUR Malta
EUR Monaco
EUR Netherlands
NOK Norway
EUR Norway
PLN Poland
EUR Poland
EUR Portugal
RON Romania
EUR Romania
EUR San Marino
EUR Slovakia
EUR Slovenia
EUR Spain
SEK Sweden
EUR Sweden
GBP United Kingdom
EUR United Kingdom
TRY Turkey

Exchange Rate

– – –

GBP 1 = NGN 2030.28232

Transfer Fee

Free – – – 0.99 0.99 USD

Receiver gets

Enter the country or currency you want to receive money in.

Popular

All countries

EUR Andorra
AED United Arab Emirates
XCD Anguilla
ALL Albania
AMD Armenia
EUR Armenia
USD Armenia
AOA Angola
EUR Austria
AUD Australia
AWG Aruba
AZN Azerbaijan
EUR Azerbaijan
USD Azerbaijan
BBD Barbados
BDT Bangladesh
EUR Belgium
XOF Burkina Faso
BGN Bulgaria
EUR Bulgaria
BHD Bahrain
USD Bahrain
BMD Bermuda
BND Brunei Darussalam
BOB Bolivia
BSD Bahamas
BTN Bhutan
BWP Botswana
BZD Belize
CAD Canada
CHF Switzerland
EUR Switzerland
NZD Cook Islands
CLP Chile
XAF Cameroon
USD China
COP Colombia
CRC Costa Rica
ANG Curaçao
EUR Cyprus
CZK Czech Republic
EUR Czech Republic
EUR Germany
DJF Djibouti
DKK Denmark
EUR Denmark
XCD Dominica
DOP Dominican Republic
DZD Algeria
USD Ecuador
EUR Estonia
EGP Egypt
EUR Spain
ETB Ethiopia
EUR Finland
FJD Fiji
USD Micronesia
EUR France
XAF Gabon
EUR United Kingdom
GBP United Kingdom
XCD Grenada
GEL Georgia
EUR Georgia
USD Georgia
GHS Ghana
GIP Gibraltar
GMD Gambia
XAF Equatorial Guinea
EUR Greece
USD Guam
GYD Guyana
HKD Hong Kong
USD Hong Kong
HNL Honduras
EUR Croatia
EUR Hungary
HUF Hungary
IDR Indonesia
EUR Ireland
ILS Israel
INR India
USD India
EUR Iceland
EUR Italy
JMD Jamaica
JPY Japan
USD Japan
KES Kenya
USD Kenya
KGS Kyrgyzstan
EUR Kyrgyzstan
USD Kyrgyzstan
KHR Cambodia
AUD Kiribati
KMF Comoros
XCD Saint Kitts and Nevis
KWD Kuwait
USD Kuwait
KYD Cayman Islands
KZT Kazakhstan
EUR Kazakhstan
USD Kazakhstan
XCD Saint Lucia
EUR Liechtenstein
LKR Sri Lanka
LSL Lesotho
EUR Lithuania
EUR Luxembourg
EUR Latvia
MAD Morocco
EUR Monaco
EUR Moldova
MDL Moldova
USD Moldova
MGA Madagascar
MKD Macedonia
MNT Mongolia
EUR Martinique
MRU Mauritania
EUR Malta
MUR Mauritius
MVR Maldives
MWK Malawi
MXN Mexico
MYR Malaysia
MZN Mozambique
NAD Namibia
XOF Niger
NGN Nigeria
EUR Netherlands
EUR Norway
NOK Norway
NPR Nepal
NZD New Zealand
USD New Zealand
OMR Oman
USD Oman
USD Panama
PEN Peru
PGK Papua New Guinea
PHP Philippines
PKR Pakistan
PLN Poland
EUR Poland
USD Puerto Rico
EUR Portugal
PYG Paraguay
QAR Qatar
USD Qatar
EUR Reunion
EUR Romania
RON Romania
RWF Rwanda
SAR Saudi Arabia
USD Saudi Arabia
SBD Solomon Islands
SCR Seychelles
EUR Sweden
SEK Sweden
SGD Singapore
USD Singapore
EUR Slovenia
EUR Slovakia
EUR San Marino
XOF Senegal
SRD Suriname
USD El Salvador
SZL Eswatini
XAF Chad
XOF Togo
THB Thailand
USD Thailand
TJS Tajikistan
EUR Tajikistan
USD Tajikistan
USD Timor-Leste
TMT Turkmenistan
TOP Tonga
TRY Turkey
USD Turkey
TTD Trinidad and Tobago
TZS Tanzania
EUR Ukraine
UAH Ukraine
USD Ukraine
UGX Uganda
USD United States of America
UYU Uruguay
UZS Uzbekistan
EUR Uzbekistan
USD Uzbekistan
EUR Vatican City
XCD Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
USD Virgin Islands, British
VND Vietnam
VUV Vanuatu
WST Samoa
EUR Kosovo
ZAR South Africa
ZMW Zambia
This amount placeholder is shown due to an error in the calculator.
Sign up
Sign up to create an account and proceed in a new tab.

Powered by Moka United

Delivered in minutes

Having to work from home with kids is a task the world isn’t very good at yet. It’s a bit like work, but with more mess, more screaming and a small zoo running wild around your desk, pressing your keyboard, chewing your notebook. 

Here are some tips put together by our team to help you work from home with kids like a boss.

Inform your colleagues

Much of the stress when you work from home with kids comes from worrying about what your colleagues must think of you. But one of the few upsides to a shared struggle (as opposed to a personal one) is that everyone is going through something similar. So just be open and honest.

Be clear about your schedule. Block out your calendar so our colleagues can see that you’re running between 9 and 10, or on kid duty between 3 and 5. Tell your boss about your new timetable. No one will begrudge you, as long as they know when to get hold of you, and what to expect from you, when.

Plan with your spouse and kids

Of course, the best laid plans often go wrong, especially with a spouse having a surprise conference call, or children having a surprise sugar fight. So it’s vital to communicate with your family when you’re working from home with kids.

Share your work and home calendars with each other, and make visual timetables with the kids that give them a routine. That same routine will allow them to wait for Mummy Time because they know it happens between 4 and 6, or look forward to Daddy’s Maths Olympics because it happens before lunch. Which means less time spent negotiating, and more time focussed on work.

One thing at a time

Don’t work and watch the kids at the same time, or you might end up with a front window like our copywriter’s.

When you’re with the kids, you’re with the kids. And when you’re working, you’re working—preferably in your own work space that should feel, to the children, like entering the Temple of Doom. 

Parallel play

But we know that’s not always possible. And some activities allow children to work alongside you in relative peace. These should be activities that require only 1% supervision—drawing, writing, colouring, reading, or educational apps. 

The trick is to set them up properly. Spend a few minutes getting them going on the app, or deciding what to draw, or predicting what will happen next in the story. They’ll go further on their own after that. And so long as they’re mirroring your behaviour, you’ll be fairly productive. 

Equally, get them involved in the housework you do. This will allow you to attend to cooking/folding/cleaning while satisfying their need for attention. Just remember to make it fun (and allow it to take longer as a result), or they’ll never do it again. You won’t regret it.

Nap time and quiet time

Nap time is a wonderful moment of peace where you can really motor through some work. If your child is too old to nap, establish the rules for ‘Quiet Time’: how long it lasts, what they can do (write, read, draw, build in silence) and what they can’t do (ask for snacks, interrupt you, throw cars through windows). Make this as much a part of your day as everything else.

It’s your playtime too

Even the most loving parent can resent the time spent with the kids. It can feel like time stolen from your work, or from your own playtime later that night. But that feeling only makes it worse: you’re neither working, nor giving the kids the attention they need, nor enjoying yourself. 

Commit to having fun during your kids’ playtime. When you close your laptop, mentally put it away. Throw yourself into whatever your kids are doing, or whatever you have planned, and you’ll get as much fun out of it as they will. Dance like a bear. Growl like a tiger. Waddle like a penguin. The rewards are delightful. And you might even come back to your work feeling refreshed.

It’s okay to let go

The hardest part about working at night is the tension between what you want to do (Netflix) and what you have to do (spreadsheet). The trick, as any Buddhist will tell you, is to let go of your desire—because it’s the desire that hurts. Make peace with the fact that you’ll be working: turn the music up, grab your favourite drink, get comfy, and get stuck into your work. 

But you can also let go of your standards a little bit. When you work from home with kids, you’re doing something almost impossible: you’re parent, babysitter, teacher and breadwinner all in one. For the first time ever. So don’t expect perfection in any one of those fields. Do your best, and then rest. Which brings us to the last point.

Look after yourself

You’re more use fit and healthy than you are as a stressed out shell. Prioritise your well-being. Many of us are bad at this, because we think that looking after ourselves is self-indulgent. But with so much resting on your shoulders, you need to make sure those shoulders are broad, well-rested, and well-fed. So be good to yourself: your world depends on it!
______________

And, if you want to send money as you work from home with kids, we’re here to help. Sign up today for easy online money transfers.

About the author

jennifertate

Jennifer Tate

Jennifer Tate is a freelance copywriter and content manager based in Newcastle upon Tyne with over 15 years of experience in creating SEO copy and content for both leading brands and independent start-ups. Working across a variety of sectors from fintech to fashion and healthcare to homeware, Jennifer specialises in content creation, content management and social media strategies and has worked with TransferGo since 2017. As well as TransferGo, Jennifer has also recently created copy and content for Charlotte Tilbury, carecircle, Tommee Tippee and Robinson Pelham.