Working from Home with Kids: Why You Shouldn't Rely Too Heavily on Television

Are you a work-at-home parent? If you are, how old is your child or your children? If you have a child or even a number of children who are toddlers or elementary school aged children, you may find it somewhat difficult to work from home. Despite being somewhat difficult, thousands of work-at-home parents are able to do so. A good portion of those parents rely on television to help keep their children occupied while they get some work done, but you may be wondering whether or not that is really good for your child.

When it comes to determining whether or not television is a good way to keep your child occupied while you try and work from home, it is important to remember that you are the parent. Of course, you are able to decide what you think is best or isn't best for your child, but there are some facts that you may want know. This information, which is outlined below, may actually make you think twice before relying too heavily on your television.

A large number of work-at-home parents, namely the ones who try and use the television as a babysitter, do so because they think that is what is best for their child or is the easiest method of keeping them occupied. Yes, setting your child in front of a television is relatively easy to do, but there is so much more that you can also do. For instance, I am also a stay-at-home / work-at-home mom. Since I work as a freelance writer, I do have a little bit more freedom than other work-at-home parents, as I rarely have to communicate over the phone with my clients. That freedom allows me to work at my kitchen table on my laptop, so that is where I set my daughter up with me for a few hours.

One of the many activities that you can use, besides television, to keep your child occupied while you work from home includes arts and crafts. Toddlers and elementary school aged children almost always love arts and crafts. Online, often with a standard internet search, you should be able to find a number of fun and exciting craft projects; projects that your child may be able to do on their own. Also, simple things such as coloring in a coloring book or painting with water colors can also be considered arts and crafts.

Another great way that you can help to keep your child occupied from home is by allowing them to copy you. My daughter, who is three, loves to pretend to work just like I do. I even went as far as buy her a desk set, a broken laptop computer, and other "office supplies." Some days, she can spend hours sitting and typing on her keyboard, talking on her phone, or drawing at her desk. While this particular approach may not work for everyone, it has worked wonders for me.

As it was previously mentioned, there are a number of alternatives ways that you can go about keeping your child occupied when you try to work from home, besides television. However, with that in mind, it doesn't mean that you can't use the television as a way to occupy your child on occasion. In fact, depending on the show that your child watches, they may even walk away more educated. For educational programming, you may want to think about tuning into PBS Kids, Nick Jr., or Noggin. For educational DVDs, the LeapFrog Learning DVDs come highly rated and recommended.