“Mumma no working “ cried my almost 2-year-old daughter, for the 10th time. This happened a month ago and it shook me.I didn’t realize how absorbed I was with the task at hand, that her cries fell on deaf ears. I immediately looked up when I finally heard what she was saying.

After calming her down, I assured her of my full attention and went on to show her how she could work with me too. She loved it and the rest of my workday was a breeze after that!

I’ve been a WFH Mumma ever since the pandemic hit, of course, like most of you. And, from my brief journey, I’ve realized a few BAD habits I’d developed over time! I needed to change, for the sake of my children and myself too.

whether you full time working mother or doing any part time work its important to maintain balanced life between child care, family life  and office work.

• Stop demonizing your work

When we have stringent deadlines to meet or challenging tasks to get done, our natural response is to express dread in some form or another. Now, imagine a 4-year-old listening to such complaints regularly. He/she is never going to want to work when they grow up.its not good for their mental health. It looks like mommy is always having trouble with work and who wants that much trouble right? Let’s choose to watch TV all day instead :) (Picture a grown-up, couch potato version of your kid - you don’t want that right, so stop the whining already :)

What worked: On difficult days, I like to talk of the challenges as a mystery to solve or an adventure to embark on. It’s also a bonus that I have such a great work team who love connecting with my toddlers during an official call sometimes. If you don’t have that luxury, try personifying the people you work with as characters in a story.

We can only hope that this will help the kiddos have a positive attitude towards their careers too.

• Stop De-Prioritizing your kids while working

It’s important to let our children know that they are our number 1 priority, even while we work. I’ve been guilty of getting too engrossed in my work sometimes, where I fail to give them the attention they need at the moment.

What worked: Always acknowledging them, looking up from my screens while they talk to me, and checking in on them regularly. I also like to take short fifteen-minute breaks every two hours to check in on them, laugh with them or ask them how they’re doing.

If not, the child may feel threatened by our work and may have unpleasant feelings towards it as well.

• Stop destroying yourself with “mom” guilt

I often find myself in a place where I’m either guilty that I didn’t get all my work done for the day or that I didn’t spend enough time with the kids. This is when I remind myself that, what counts is staying fully present in each moment - be it at work or with the kids.

What worked: If I’ve decided to sit and finish a task in two hours, I like to sit behind closed doors until it’s done. If I want to take a break and see the kids, I like to leave my phone and laptop away as I connect with them for those few minutes.

Having said all of this, God knows, I don’t always get it right. But, it definitely helps to have these hacks up my sleeve to always fall back on.

Do you have other simple hacks to make your WFH experience as a mom easier? Would love to hear from you too!

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