Five ways I’ve been winning working from home with children

By Lisa Glass

Standards have fallen, waistlines have expanded and definitions of acceptable TV shows for young viewers have been re-evaluated. Here’s how I’ve been a winning parent working from home.

  • Kids grow fast. With new clothes hard to come by, my children are now stuck wearing my clothes. They look like middle-aged bag ladies in their cardi/leggings combos, but they’re learning not to judge others by their looks – win!
  • Educational TV is a wonderful thing, but it can’t compete with the lure of winning a legendary pet rhino or a ‘spring 2020’ halo in the Roblox universe of incomprehensible child-lures. However, my 10-year-old now has a rare halo, a parasol, a four-storey McMansion AND a giraffe – win!
  • 12-year-olds are awesome at cooking pasta, and it’s ok to eat way too much of it because you’re helping their self-esteem by enjoying their food – win!
  • Even if the carefully curated resource packs supplied by the school go un-touched, books, drawing, creating their own board games, slime and ‘skin creams’ all count as educational activities – win!
  • On at least 50% of days we have recorded zero fist fights and nobody (i.e. me) has run away from home – win!

Kudos to everyone who, like us, has been kid-wrangling over the last seven weeks or so. If they’re alive and you’re alive, you’re doing a great job. And bars will be open soon – win!