Amidst the COVID-19 outbreak we suddenly find ourselves self-isolating at home. Our kids are now on extended breaks from school, and offices are mandating remote work policies. For many of us working parents, this, along with anxieties about health and safety, is more stress added to our ever-full plates.

If you're working from home you might be experiencing some of the following:

• A constant barrage of demands from your children.
• Deep seated parental guilt.
• The need to keep calm and carry on for both your kids sake, work, and yourself!

Fun & Educational Learning Activities for Kids at Home

There’s a handful of helpful suggestions online to keep you and your children active and occupied during a pandemic. Usually you'd probably jam pack your schedule full of playdates, but self-isolation may be causing you to reassess your plans. Rest assured that a lot of parents are probably starting Frozen 2 right before an important phone call and allowing more screen time than normal.

Learning activities for kids at home are a must for today’s busy parents. So why not make the most of screen time?

Additional screen time for your kids doesn’t have to be a bad thing if it’s smart screen time. Now is a great time to invest in software subscriptions; their importance has never become more pronounced. You get the benefit of having your children safe at home, while learning a skill that will greatly impact the future economy. We need tech more than ever and with that need we're seeing a huge shift in the future job market and workforce. Just take a look around your neighbourhood park. Of all the kids playing there, a whopping 65% of them will go on to jobs that don’t even exist yet!

3 Ways to Help the Economy While You & Your Family Are Stuck at Home

Just as you are still working despite the outbreak, try not to forget about your friends and neighbours who own and work for small businesses. It’s no secret that they’re already feeling the effects of COVID-19. You can show your support by:

1. Buying from small businesses online.
2. Ordering gift cards to use once stores and restaurants reopen.
3. Trying Hatch’s 14-day free trial of Hatch@Home. Your kids can get started right now, and they'll be well on their way to being a computer programming wiz (needed in the future economy) by the time classes are back in session.

Help Your Kids Develop Future Skills Not Taught in Class

Keep your kids learning and sharp even while in isolation by helping them learn to read and write code. You’ll be stocking them up on tech skills and getting them ahead of the crowd during this period of social distancing.

Coding helps kids:

• Work and research solutions independently
• Think critically and use math reasoning
• Become more organized

Plus, coding is by nature, creative.

If you weren’t prepared for a virtual world before, you’re probably seeing how important it is right now. With coding skills, you and your kids can get ahead of the crowd and learn from home. Plus, it will prepare your kids for the future of remote work which is expected to increase. Research shows, from 2005 to 2017 remote work increased by 159%.