Working from home can be tough for parents. Here's an essential guide.

You wake up one morning and your child's school is closed, you're now working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic, and your world is shook. In this edition of Making sense of coronavirus you'll find hard-earned advice based on my own WFH as-a-parent experience in Singapore, along with the best curated tips from LinkedIn members. We're all figuring out how to cope with this new reality, let's do it together.

If you're not a parent, you live in another universe but you still know some parents out there. Share this with them, they'll probably appreciate it.

Living in the Upside Down

Last year during your child's school break you were probably (definitely) counting the days to when your kid(s) would go back to school after summer break. Now, you find yourself suddenly juggling delivering on work requirements, keeping the money flowing in and taking care of junior at home. Maybe you already were doing that, in which case some of this still might be helpful to you, and readers would love to hear from you in the comments below for any tips you might have.

You love your kid(s), but it's stressful having them home all day. It is particularly stressful to manage everything while keeping informed about the coronavirus pandemic occurring around you. Take comfort in knowing you're not alone in this.

There's no way to deliver on covering all the bases, so this mainly focuses on parents with younger, toddler to pre-teen aged kids. If you've got a tween or teenager in the house? You could do like Greg Grimer, a consultant based in London, and have your 14-year-old son finally help you fix that washing machine and "make a man out of them."

Keep it together

As parents, our first priority is always, always to keep our little ones safe. We'd do anything for them, and we often do. That doesn't make what we're all going through now any easier.

Coronavirus is purgatory for working parents, writes Elizabeth Gulliver on LinkedIn. I highly recommend giving Gulliver's article a read. She has excellent suggestions on how to cope. I tend to agree with her when she says, "I’ve read several accounts of people quarantined with their kids. Most end with charming anecdotes about the imposed quality time spent with their kid. While I do appreciate that benefit, the complicated realities of trying to work from home during this period are stress inducing to say the least."

This was my initial experience trying to work from home.

It was small adjustment. We're managing it now, but it wasn't something that came on the first day or even the tenth. I initially worked from home for two weeks, which was followed by two more. So far, I've been working from home for the better part of a month while being sick, helping with our daughter and trying to live a somewhat normal existence.

Many parents in Asia and other affected countries know what I'm talking about. It is a system shock. Your routine is upended and while you're happy to be able to spend more time with your kid, you've got serious balancing issues to content with.

Plan a routine, but be adaptable

Parents across Asia have been dealing with this disruption for some time now. Ida Mattsson, an editor at Little Steps Asia based out of Hong Kong posted about how the situation, "Certainly has changed things for us, but not in the expected way." She says that she, "went from being the main caretaker of our children to now be the working parent. With my husband being a teacher, he’s currently not working due to schools being closed. That means he’s home a lot more and naturally takes on the main responsibilities for the kids during the day."

Help your significant other, your husband, your wife. Particularly if they're the ones usually holding down the house. If that's the case, you being there is not only a change for you, but disruptive for their daily routine as well.

At this very moment you're both probably really focused on keeping your kid from doing things like this...

If you're two working parents suddenly home with a child with no school, that's three routines in chaos. You need to start a plan, one that gives each of you a set amount of time to work and rotate taking care of the kid and spending time with them. At the same time, don't be afraid to break this routine if necessary.

Sandra Costeja Bos, an Independent consultant at EY in Hong Kong has been doing this for two months and commented, "Take it day by day, take a break to bake with your kid, take turns for play dates, reach out to your neighbors. We are all in it together."

Alessandra Gatti, a career adviser and parent of one 6-year-old and one 6-month-old touched on communication with your kids and what "smart working" means at home. She explains what her needs are, when she can play and when she cannot. She talks about taking a human-centered approach, where as an example during a coffee break she dedicates herself completely to her children.

Gatti also keys in on the ability to adapt to change. If something no longer works with the little ones, try something else and find a new balance.

If you're both working parents relying on your income to survive, as many do, then having a school closed on you is a potential personal financial crisis. Particularly if your employers aren't covering sick leave.

Three basic things to do before you've got to make tough decisions.

• Each parent find out from employer what considerations there are for either WFH if possible, paid sick leave or stay home notices by the government, or alternating shift coverage.
• Immediately ask your circle of other parents for babysitting or back up daycare recommendations and references.
• Reach out to your support network. Parents, friends, the community. We need to be able to rely upon each other at this time.

Continuing education at home

UAE LinkedIn News Editor Lynn Chouman asked for tips from the community around distance learning and got some great suggestions.

Grade 4 teacher Tim Bullock reminded that it is important for children to keep TV watch time down (hah) and continue to have meaningful social interactions, so he suggested face-to-face online contact using something like the videoconferencing app Zoom. You can also use whatever the majority of other student's parents use in your community such as Google Hangouts or whatever your school suggests.

Library Director Imad Sabbah gave very practical advice around seeing that your child has their own device, the device is working well and that you have the ability to easily monitor your children's activities.

Look to seek advice from parents who homeschool children during normal times is a suggestion by Monique, an account executive at Everyday Speech.

Homeschooling parents like Brand Consultant Crystal Davies are sharing their experiences, "We have the flexibility to then layer in activities she likes, like soccer, tumbling classes, etc. I have my own business and work full time from home, so I've staggered my hours to accommodate her 5 hours of class time each day. It took some adjusting in the beginning, but it's been a really good fit for our family."

For more great tips from parents, see LinkedIn Top Voice Sarah Johnston's post here.

Unrelated to parenting, but in a special edition of the LinkedIn newsletter Get Hired, LinkedIn News Editor Andrew Seamen talks to Sarah to learn best practices for navigating job interviews during a pandemic. Check it out here.

Careful what you say about 'The Virus' around the house

This might be obvious to some, but in practice it's actually a bit difficult. I write a newsletter about coronavirus, so in my particular case I'm always thinking about it, reading lots of news and chatting with my wife. There's been times when I've said something to my wife about the virus and my daughter overhears and responds, "Can you not talk about the virus? Don't talk about that."

I stopped. That helped me remember how scary this probably is for a kid and how if you're not reassuring them and only chatting about news and closures, and "bad things" then it's going to affect them. Read up on how to talk to kids about coronavirus. Because of this I've since tried to really cut down on the amount of virus talk in the house around our daughter and consider how we're communicating the pandemic to her. It takes a conscious effort.

'Set it and forget it' activities

Unfinished artwork is a staple of any family home.

One parent on LinkedIn suggested to another parent, "Whatever he likes doing, maybe building something, watching cartoons, or other things which normally keep him busy, will help you with clusters of time to do work."

Aside from the home schooling part, preparing and setting up your kid with a variety of independent activities can be a great way to get some chunks of time.

We stocked up on more art supplies.

More art! MORE! Turning our house into an art studio.

Those pipe cleaners we bought for a couple dollars? She's played with them for hours. HOURS. It has allowed me to write this newsletter edition. Huge fan of pipe cleaners.

Another working parent commented he'd manage to get work done by kicking off a "Peppa Pig Marathon!" Would have to agree. Though we've found "Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom" equally does the trick.

Give video games a try

If you don't already have one, get a Nintendo Switch. Here's ours.

Squeezed in between all the family-friendly titles is dada's game "Plague Inc." It's morbid to play right now. Don't really suggest it.

I know some parents out there aren't huge fans of their kids playing video games, but I'd like to vouch for the benefit of gaming in the time of coronavirus. My daughter and I bond over gaming, so video games have been a wonderful way for us to connect and kill time.

We play a ton of Switch together. Games like Mario Kart, Mario Maker 2, Mario Party, Farm Together, Lego Worlds and many more can be really fun to play as a family or solo. The mobility of it is great as well. We can play on the TV or take it into another room. Our perspective is that we feel like gaming is more interactive than just watching YouTube or Netflix. With games, a kid at least has to think their way through problems when they play.

If you want recommendations for age-appropriate games, ask in the comments below.

Almost forgot...

Limit sugar intake

The struggle is real. Not being preachy here, but when you've got limited access to physical activity and you're all stuck in the house, sugar highs are slightly more noticeable.

Keep an eye out for support in surprising places

In Japan, the government offered free Manga downloads to kids staying at home.

In the UAE, telcom providers are supporting parents by offering free access to online collaboration platforms, school material downloads at no cost and granting free browsing of normally pay-to-access learning platforms.

In Los Angeles, California the LA Unified School District is partnering up with public TV stations to provide educational programs during school closures.

Here on LinkedIn if you dig around through the LinkedIn Learning courses, you'll find some good ones relating to parenting such as Time Management: Working From Home.

There's a lot out there right now to help you or parents you know find their way, I hope this can help if not just a bit.

We've got to support each other, so I'd love to hear from you and get your tips in the comments below. I'll feature the best ones to ensure they get seen by other parents.

Next time...

• Likely: Should the 2020 Tokyo Olympics be cancelled? (If it isn't canceled before the next edition.) Alternative: The gut punch of losing professional sports

Official information on coronavirus pandemic

Find updates from official sources here on LinkedIn.

What are your tips for parenting while working from home during the coronavirus pandemic? Join the conversation.