Stagger shifts with your partner if you can. Someone is working from 6-2, someone is working from 2-10

Videos and TV do an amazing job of keeping our children (relatively) quiet and stationary. You gotta do what you gotta do.

Anonymous wrote:I used to get up really early and do a block of work before my child woke up, and then another during nap/tv and then some after his bedtime. It's really hard to do a full workday that way but you can do 5-6 hours. It's hard.

This. I WFH one day every other week with my 4 year old. I get up early and work 1-2 hours before DC is up, then try to have one new craft/puzzle/activity for the remainder of morning, which is interspersed with breakfast, snack, and screen time while I have calls/video calls. DC doesn't nap anymore, but will do an hour of quiet time in bedroom with books and stuffed animals from ~1:30-2:30 or 2-3. Late afternoon tends to be a wash unless I offer more screen time, so the remaining 'work hours' are accomplished once DH comes home and/or after DC goes to bed.

With two parents home you can rotate each hour who is on "child duty". Set up some activities that will buy you 30 minutes of time. And use the other parent as distractor when you have calls or videos to attend. It's not impossible but not easy.

With just one parent, it's nearly impossible. If your child naps, that give you a chunk of time. If you're willing to put them in front of a TV that gives you another chunk of time. Otherwise, you might be able to read or respond to an email, but not actually work.