Working from Home, with Kids, During a Pandemic

An interview with Lori Federico, assistant to Chair and Professor David Sholl in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Lori Federico is a working mom, gracefully balancing teleworking, while also entertaining and managing her two kids as they return to virtual school this fall. Her daughter Mia is 10 and has just started 5th grade. Henry, her youngest at age four, has just started pre-K. All classes will be remote this fall.

Lori learned a few things when the pandemic started in March, as everyone had to scramble to adjust to the ‘new normal.’ From her home in Kirkwood, she provides a few tips for working parents to help juggle everything that comes with teleworking with school-age children in the house.

Lori’s tips for teaching at home while working

  1. Create a color-coded Google calendar. For Mia’s classes, it includes due dates for assignments and when different class sessions are occurring. Henry’s schedule is a little more fluid, so we add in online music classes or a puppet show he can watch. My husband Brian who works at Warner Media has his schedule on there too. And of course, my schedule. Clearly, there are lots of moving parts, but it helps us stay organized. In a way, it’s like running your household like an office.
  2. For virtual learning, don’t try to stick to a hard and fast schedule – you have to be flexible with the schedule. And have a back-up plan if things get off course.
  3. Have lots of creative activities for the kids to do during down time. You have to create that school environment at home. I’ve had to buy a ton of creative supplies like glitter, glue and construction paper so the kids can do arts and crafts at home. We also do a lot of science experiments, like making slime and erupting volcanos.
  4. Be patient with yourself – don’t give into the mom/dad guilt. We don’t give ourselves enough grace half the time. So, when we have a bad day, I sit down with the kids and just say, ‘Today really stinks. Let’s just take a walk and walk it out.’
  5. Understand your kid’s frustrations too. They miss their friends and teachers. For Mia at age 10, we talk about her feelings. Sometimes if the kids act out, the reason behind it is because they miss their friends. Henry doesn’t always know how to express himself, so he will act out, but it’s just because he’s sad and missing his friends.
  6. Some days are just really hard and I have to take a minute and think what can I drop right now in order to get some control back and stop the chaos.

Lori’s general tips for working from home

  1. For ChBE, I do the calendaring and running of reports, among other things, so I’m able to arrange my schedule in a very flexible way. I recommend working with your supervisor to see if a flexible schedule is ok. The work will get done, it just might be at odd hours.
  2. Work with your partner to manage the kids learning, and pinch hit for each other when you can to accommodate meetings that have to happen at certain times. I have a single parent friend, and she’s all about being organized and keeping her three year old entertained if she has a meeting. And a lot of the time, that means putting on a video or YouTube.
  3. It’s all about organization – if I know I have a meeting from two to four, I plan for that and make sure the kids are occupied with an activity during that time.
  4. Don’t be afraid to ask for flexibility from your boss. You need to have a mutual trust with your supervisor. If you have a good team that trusts each other and works well together, then there’s no problem
  5. And remember, kids are going to be in the background on BlueJeans calls sometimes!