How to work from home with a toddler

Toddlers are not known for their ability to listen to reasoning. 

This means they won’t let mummy’s lengthy work to do list get in the way of having fun all day. 

So how can you keep up with work when you have a toddler at home with you?

It’s not easy, but it is totally doable to work from home and have your kids around too. 

You need to get creative, be super organised and remember it requires a huge amount of patience to juggle the two things. 

Try these tops for working from home while caring for your toddler: 

Get up early

Set your alarm clock for an hour before your toddler typically wakes up. 

This might mean waking up at 5.30am, which I realise is painful. However you can get a whole lot done in that hour before you need to juggle both your toddler and work. 

If possible, ask your partner to be the one to get your toddler up for breakfast so that you have a few extra minutes of undisturbed work time before they head out for the day. 

Compensate for your early starts by getting an early night. You may need to reset your body clock, but you’ve got to work around the situation you’re in!

If your toddler is waking at a ridiculously early time right now, then this is not going to work for you. Hopefully your little one will ditch the early wake-up calls soon.

Choose the right toys

In order for you to get on with work while your toddler is under the same roof, you need to encourage independent play. 

This means offering them toys to play with that they can easily figure out themselves. 

You may also want to avoid setting them up with any messy play or painting when you need to concentrate on something, unless you don’t mind your furniture and walls getting covered too. 

Some great toys for independent play include: 

• Blocks for building
• Duplo 
• Dolls and action figures 
• Puzzles

Work around your toddler’s routine

If your toddler has a good routine that they thrive on, then work around this. 

By doing this they will be happy, less likely to throw tantrums and hopefully give you a decent amount of nap time to get stuff done. 

Schedule in the most complicated work you need to do for the times your child will be asleep. 

Set time aside to play in your routine 

One of the perks of working from home while also being a SAHM is that you get to spend extra quality time with your child!

Try to factor in play time for you and your child every single day. This is time when you put down all of your screens, put your phone on silent and just be with them. 

If you can, have an outing together at some point every single day so that you both get out of the house and can enjoy a change of scene. 

A quick walk to the park or a trip to soft play will mean your toddler gets to have fun and you get a screen break. 

It’s also nice to be able to look back on your child’s early years and remember you were able to take advantage of working from home to make some really special memories with your toddler. 

Make sure you child proof 

When you’re working from home, your back will be turned a lot! Toddlers have a habit of getting into trouble within seconds. 

Ensure that every zone of the house where your toddler may delve into is child-proofed. 

Look at the areas where your child is playing and make sure it’s completely geared up for them. 

Remember to get safety straps on all of your large items of furniture and fix them to the walls. 

Don’t forget to think of the little things like taps in the bathroom. Either make sure the door is closed, or put anti-kid devices on top of the taps so that they can’t get the hot water going and scald themselves. 

Designate your working area

Remaining focused on the work you need to get done is tricky when your home is your office. 

Add in a toddler running around at your feet and there are a lot of distractions working against you. 

Create an office area that is completely yours and make it a pleasant space that makes you feel focused and relaxed. 

Apart from the distractions from your toddler, it’s also easy to get waylaid by other things around your house such as that pile of washing you forgot to get on last night. 

When you are sat down at the desk, imagine your feet are planted down to the floor. Don’t let chores, washing or other distractions get to you. 

If you have managed to get your toddler playing happily on their own or napping, then get yourself focused on work and make the most of this time. 

A nice working area will make this much easier to do. 

Try adding houseplants, motivational prints on the wall and a good desk organiser and planner to help you. 

Don’t be afraid to use the television

If your toddler gets fraught at any point, it’s totally OK to get the TV on and use it as a babysitter. 

Children’s TV has come a long, long way since the Button Moon days. Every programme is geared up to be educational as well as fun in some way. 

Try to add the television to your normal routine so that your toddler knows there are limits placed on it if you need to do that. 

Plan your meals 

You’ll waste a lot of valuable time if you need to dash out to get lunch every day. 

Remember to plan for lunches at home for you and your toddler when doing your weekly shop. 

Some of our favourite lunches which my toddlers adore include pancakes, toasted cheese sandwiches, and pitta bread pizzas. 

Enlist the help of friends and family

It can be helpful to have a little time when you get total peace and quiet. 

Ask family or friends if they can help out, or offer a babysitting circle where you each take turns to help each other out. 

Even just one child-free morning a week can give you a huge boost. 

It’s amazing how much you can get done when there are zero distractions. 

Be flexible 

Whether it’s a rubbish night of sleep or teething troubles. Some days your toddler just will not be distracted by anything. 

On days like these, let the routine go out of the window and figure out how to work around the problem. 

It may be that you have to surrender extra time to your toddler and do more work in the evening. 

Ask your partner if they can take your child out at the weekend so that you can make up for lost time then. 

When you have to work around your toddler, you’ll need to roll with the punches.