About the author
Lily Tamrick is the founder of Parent Hubspot and a passionate advocate for supporting parents through every stage of the journey. Drawing on her own experiences as a parent and her background in family wellness, Lily created Parent Hubspot to be a trusted resource filled with practical advice, expert tips, and encouragement. Her mission is simple: to help parents feel informed, confident, and supported as they raise happy, healthy children.
I know firsthand how, as a new or expectant mum working from home, the workday can feel like two full-time jobs unfolding in the same room. Meetings don’t pause for toddler meltdowns, and caring for a baby while trying to work often turns even the simplest tasks into a constant stop-and-start juggle.
What weighs on me most is the constant pull between wanting to show up reliably at work and needing to protect my energy, recovery, and attention at home. As the productivity hurdles of remote work pile up, that sense of balance can start to feel completely out of reach.
Still, I’ve learned that there are realistic, compassionate ways to make our days feel steadier, calmer, and far less overwhelming.
Quick Summary: Balancing Work and Toddler Care
● Set up a distraction-free workspace that supports focused remote work.
● Ask for family support to share toddler care and reduce daily pressure.
● Encourage independent play activities so your child stays engaged while you work.
● Protect your mental health with practical strategies that lower stress and prevent burnout.
● Choose comfortable, functional clothing and build skills through online courses for long-term confidence.
Understanding the Needs Behind the Chaos
It helps to name what you are really juggling.
Balancing remote work and toddler care is less about finding a perfect schedule and more about meeting a few core needs. You need to manage attention (yours and your child’s), create predictable routines, set clear boundaries, and keep expectations realistic.
This matters because many moms feel pressure to “do it all” and still look effortless. When working mothers face more rigorous scrutiny, you can end up overcommitting and burning out instead of choosing what actually works at home.
Think of your day like a toddler’s snack plate, not a five course meal. You plan a few reliable options, and you adjust when one gets rejected. That mindset makes space for a short meeting block and a realistic play block.
With those needs clear, structured office hours and independent play blocks become much easier to set.
Build a Day Plan That Cuts Interruptions and Protects Focus
When you’re working from home with young kids, the goal isn’t a “perfect” schedule, it’s a predictable rhythm that meets your toddler’s needs for attention and routine while protecting a few real pockets of focus.
1. Set structured office hours (even if they’re short):
Pick 2–3 “must-protect” work blocks each day, like 9:00–10:30 and 1:00–2:00, and treat them as your office hours. Tell your team and anyone at home what those times are and what is worth interrupting you for (injury, diaper blowout, true emergency). Clear boundaries reduce constant decision-making, your toddler gets a predictable pattern, and you get fewer surprise pull-ins.
2. Create a simple “when I’m working” visual for your toddler:
Use one consistent signal, headphones on, a scarf on your chair, or a colored card taped to your desk. Pair it with a short phrase: “Red means I can’t play; I’ll be done when the timer beeps.” Toddlers can’t tell time well, but they understand consistent cues, which supports the predictable routines and boundaries that calm chaos.
3. Shrink meetings on purpose (and ask for what you need):
Default to fewer, shorter calls by proposing 15–25 minute check-ins and sending a 3-bullet agenda in advance. If you’re leading, end with a clear decision and one owner per action item so there’s no follow-up meeting “just to clarify.” A reported 192% increase in Teams meetings and calls since February 2020 is a good reminder that meeting creep is real, and it’s a major interruption magnet when you have a toddler.
4. Map independent-play blocks like appointments:
Plan 2–4 independent-play “anchors” of 20–45 minutes around your most important tasks. Set your toddler up for success with a tiny rotation: 2–3 simple options on the floor nearby (blocks, chunky puzzles, crayons) and one “special” bin that only appears during work blocks. Start with 10 minutes if that’s your reality, then gradually extend, your child learns the routine, and you get dependable mini-sprints.
5. Use a predictable attention trade: connect, then work:
Before each focus block, give 5–10 minutes of full attention, snuggle, read one book, do a quick dance party, then name what’s happening: “I’m going to work until the timer beeps, then I’m yours.” This meets the attention need on purpose so your toddler is less likely to seek it by interrupting. It also helps you hold the boundary with less guilt because connection is already “budgeted.”
6. When the plan slips, run a 10-minute reset and tighten expectations:
Do a quick scan: What broke, sleep, hunger, too-long work block, unclear boundary, or a meeting at the wrong time? Adjust just one thing for the next cycle: shorten the next work block by 10 minutes, add a snack before it, or move one meeting to an overlap time. For your own focus, build self-discipline by getting “work-ready” (even a fast face wash and clean clothes) and returning to the same start cue each time, your brain learns the groove faster.
A day plan that works is one you can repeat on low sleep: a few protected work hours, fewer meetings, and independent-play blocks that match your toddler’s stage, especially when you’re working from home with young kids. These small boundaries and reset steps make it easier to follow a calm, checkable daily routine, even on messy mornings.
Remote Work + Toddler Care Quick-Start Checklist
To make your rhythm repeatable:
This checklist turns your best intentions into a simple plan you can follow on low sleep. Keep it visible so you can reset fast, protect your energy, and still meet your toddler’s need for connection.
✔ Confirm two protected work blocks on your calendar
✔ Post one clear “working now” visual cue at your desk
✔ Prep three independent-play choices in a small rotating bin
✔ Start each work block with 5 minutes of full-attention connection
✔ Send a one-sentence availability message to your team each morning
✔ Set a 25-minute timer for focus and a 5-minute reset break
✔ Clear one hotspot surface nightly for a calmer morning start
Small steps, done daily, create a calmer home and a steadier workday.
Build Real Work-Life Balance with Simple Weekly Routines
Remote work with a toddler nearby can feel like doing two full-time jobs in the same room, with neither getting your best.
The steadier path is the one laid out here: small systems, clear boundaries, and a repeatable rhythm that supports both caregiving and focused work.
Over time, those mini-routines build parental work-life balance success, more calm in the day, more confidence in parenting and productivity, and more motivation for remote working parents who want to keep going.
Balance comes from small systems repeated, not perfect days. Pick one checklist item to try this week and keep it simple enough to repeat on low-sleep mornings. That’s how thriving with young children and a job becomes sustainable, protecting health, connection, and long-term resilience.
Loved the tips in this blog post? If they helped you, please consider sharing it with another mama who could really use a little support today.
And don’t forget to check out our other blog posts for more helpful, practical content made especially for mums working from home. We’re in this together 🤍
