Working remotely with kids! Our Unicorn parents share their tips

February 9, 2022

School closings, mandatory remote work and reduced working hours – hopefully after nearly two years of the pandemic, this will all soon be behind us. Throughout this Corona pandemic, parents have been forced to take on new roles: to be the caterers, office managers, therapists and personal assistants for their “mini-managers”. All of this, of course, in addition to their regular jobs. That’s when every day can start to feel like a Monday.

Depsite all these new changes, most parents with children who are working remotely have mastered this stress test quite well. A survey conducted by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth has shown that fifty percent of these families have undoubtedly managed to cope with the situation, providing that both parents could help look after the children. Yet the situation of having both parents working from home is an absolute privilege, a privilege which only half of German families have. Many of these couples have created and structured their own individual daily routines with clearly set resting periods and working hours, with designated times assigned to both partners for looking after their kids.

Our Unicorn parents, along with many experts, believe that dealing with the situation requires a variety of approaches. Good planning, structure, creativity and flexibility can help to create an environment in which everyone can simultaneously fulfill their responsibilities and tend to their needs without sacrificing harmony within the family. However, working hours when working remotely should be realistically estimated, and other family members should always be kept informed about the anticipated working times. Yes, all family members – so that also means explaining to the children when you have to work. The more informed your children are about the family’s daily routine, the better they can understand and accept what’s going on. This leads to less attention-seeking efforts from the children during working times and a better ability to concentrate on work for their parents.

Still finding the situation challenging? We have below some personal tips and advice that our Unicon parents are happy to share:

Julia Student Unicorn Sales Trainee

Indispensable is good organization and communication. It helps to have both a to-do list and agreements with the children, according to their age. So if you have school-aged children, you can set a timer and say, “when the hour’s up, I’ll come and help you with your homework, and then we’ll talk about what we’ll all be doing after that.”

Unicorn Benjamin - CSMO und Head of Events

Have a designated workspace at home, so that even the kids can know: “oh, okay, Mom or Dad is working right now”. A place like the kitchen table, which is typically an area for everyone in the household, won’t work well.
Have a clear routine and make sure it’s communicated to everyone in the family. For example, 9.00 to 12.30 is working time, then it’s time to prepare and have lunch together, when 2 o’clock comes it’s time to work again until 5.30. Then it’s dinner time.
You have to end your working day at a certain time even when you’re at home. There’s this pitfall of not knowing when to draw the line. So you should tell yourself, your colleagues and your family: okay, that’s really it now, and you have to get away from your laptop and stop taking work calls.

Unicorn Van Anh - Finance Team

Do experiments with the kids: we’ve made an exploding volcano and built rockets, and have pondered about things like how hard clay can become soft again and have had a lot of other interesting thoughts. You can also find a lot of creative ideas online according to how many children will be involved in an activity. But we’ve often let the children take charge of carrying out their own creative projects.
In my circle of friends, we’ve mutually supported each other. For example, a family takes care of another family’s kids for the morning, and we have them on another morning. Or perhaps a grandma comes into the rotation.
Have a movie night – just for the kids. They’re comfy on the couch with popcorn, you’re letting them watch a film (yes, sometimes you have to allow this). Why? Because Mommy can then buy some time to concentrate on her work.

Unicorn Joanna - Operations Team

View your own expectations realistically. How many tasks can I complete while looking after my child? Important is to clearly identify which tasks can’t be done in this situation and to talk openly about this with your colleagues. If these issues aren’t clearly addressed, it can lead to a lot of frustration – because either work needs or the children’s needs can’t be met.
Involve children, whenever possible, in your household or work tasks in a playful way.
Good, age-appropriate apps. Our four-year old is a big fan of apps, especially the Montessori pre-school app, or apps where he gets to play the role of a fireman or a veterinarian.

If you once in a while still have doubts about how you’re handling the situation, or if you think that the tips and advice you’ve been following just aren’t helping, remember that people all over the world are adjusting to this “new normal” way of working. Sir Isaac Newton also had to work remotely back in 1665, due to the Great Plague in London. His time working at home seemed to even boost his creativity, producing some of his greatest feats – he discovered not only what we all commonly know as gravity, but also the particle theory of light. Yet there’s a great feat that many of us perform daily, which is equally as honorable and of which we should all be proud of…and that is: putting our “mini-managers” to bed at night.

We’d like to thank the following Unicorn parents for their contributions, support and inspiration for this article: Benjamin (CSMO), Joanna (Operations Team), Oskar (CTO), Jeroen (IT Team), Simone (Barista Team), Van Anh (Finance Team), Sezer (Barista Team), Julia (Sales Team), Johanna (Head of Sales), Daniela (Barista Team), Andreas (Sales Team), Dave (Operations Team), Rim (IT Team), Ricardo (Barista Team)