 How can you work at home and school your kids at home without tearing your hair out? This is a question on everybody's lips right now, and I've been asked a lot I don't necessarily know the answers yet because I'm going to be trying to figure it out with all of the rest of you But I've put together some thoughts to guide me through this first week where we are absolutely at home Working at home the kids are here too, and I thought I'd share them with you in case they're helpful to you too Please please leave comments down below with your suggestions about how to make this work One of the great things about being at home Mork's joining us. This is Mork. She used to have a sister called Mindy. Any of you remember that show Mork and Mindy? Well, yeah, this is Mork. There's no longer in Mindy and now Mork's just a really kind of slightly cruel name, but Okay, number one this will be a compromise You're not going to be able to work in quite the same way The kids are not going to be able to do school in the same way that they used to We need to just get over that as quickly as possible and be forgiving of ourselves for not being able to be skilled teachers who had years of training and lots of expertise and Forgive ourselves for having to muddle through a little bit with the working from home during the corona virus pandemic crisis lockdown thing So I guess my top tip here. Don't try and turn your home into a school. Have a think about how you can Flexibly educate your kids in a way that works for you in a way that works for them that stops everybody getting completely stressed out with each other Compromise number two I think it's really important that we create a new normal as soon as possible and in particularly here Finding a daily routine that works for the family. That's going to be really really crucial one of the really protective factors about going out to work or out to school each day is that that sense of routine that getting up Getting dressed getting washed connecting with people having a sense of belonging and purpose That's really strong protective factors against things like low mood anxiety depression We are all more vulnerable than usual with mental health issues because this is a really challenging time Even the most chillaxed people are anxious right now. So those of us with underlying conditions related to anxiety and depression We need to be really careful So routine and new routine is going to be a really important part of this I would be thinking about making a commitment to what times you're going to get up and go to bed thinking about when you'll eat Breakfast thinking about what times are the times in the day for working? Think about when are the golden times when you're not allowed to think about coronavirus build those in please? They really matter so building work time building break time make a new routine It doesn't need to mirror your normal working day or your kids normal school day It's about what can work now so be flexible compromise, but try to find a new normal The other thing with this is you'll need to revisit it periodically because things might change or you might learn about what works better So don't feel you've got to absolutely rigidly stick with it, but create a guide Try it reflect on it as a family and then adapt it number three This is for those of you who are trying to hold down a job as well as trying to homeschool your children And this is have a think about during the day and think about the whole day Not just when your normal working day would be during the day when our moments when you could be hyper productive So many of us work better either in the morning or the evening There might be chunks of the day which are really good for you if we can schedule some really concentrated work time during those those times Then perhaps we're able to then be a bit freer for our kids for our family the rest of the time So it might be that if you've got more than one adult in the house That you have shifts and that some of you have like really productive time while the others looking after the kids And you swap over if it's just you then it might be that there are some activities that you know That your kids can get on with and be pretty self-sufficient with So that you can be working in those times either that perhaps they're able to do kind of focus school work and study Or maybe you allow them to have some screen time And that they might be quiet during that time or there might be other games or activities You feel you can set them up on but basically this is about saying you know Can I carve out 90 minutes or a couple of hours? Maybe once or twice a day when I can be really productive get as much done as I possibly can and Then be forgiving of myself the rest of the time if we don't do that I fear that what will happen is we will be trying throughout the day to be working We won't be working very well, but we also won't be looking after our children as well as we could So it's going to be this like really poor compromise So rather carve out times when your kids need to know, you know, I'm working now It's really important that I can focus if possible and then times when you're absolutely with the children and be wholeheartedly with them and guiding them There might be some times that kind of fall somewhere in the middle there But see what works for you and your family or depend a lot on you and how you work and your children and how they work and How able they are to self-sustain number four kind of build on number three really and that's don't expect your children to be entirely Self-sufficient, so I think we sometimes Can overestimate how much kids can get on with stuff on their own? So they might have been set work from school or you might set them off on other activities And we might feel like we can get them going and then that's it Actually, they are going to need some degree of interaction from us And if we don't provide some interaction and help them a little bit with their learning at various points Then things aren't going to go so well for them That's okay And there will be some tasks that they'll be able to focus on better than others But if you work on the assumption that they are going to need periodic input from you and be prepared to give that and not Be doing tasks yourself that mean that you can't take yourself away and help them You're probably going to find that things are going to work better This is what I'm going to need to really work on because I'm someone who does really really focus and when I'm focused I like to be like in the zone and not interrupt it So for me, this is going to be a bit of a learning curve Then finally and I mentioned this before When can you build in golden time for everyone now for me golden time is going to be specifically time when we Don't talk about coronavirus when we just stop and we have fun and we chill out together and Life is good for a while where we completely forget about the world and we just do our thing as a family Board games are going to play a bit an important part here I think the Frisbee is going to come out quite a bit but if dog walking if we're still allowed outside the house We shall see but golden time Non-coronavirus time How can we have fun together? What does that look like and also is there something you can get lost in? Is there a TV show or a film that you could watch together which just takes you away and helps you to laugh or? Just feel differently for a while. I'd love to hear your ideas for making this work, too We're all going to be somewhat muddling through this together But please please be kind to yourself be forgiving. This isn't going to be the easiest thing in the world We all need to be flexible in our approach Good luck stay safe and let me know what other videos would be useful if you want more coronavirus specific content Bye