Working from home full time was an adjustment. Working from home with kids is incredibly difficult. Doing that while also in the process of buying and selling a house was the most energy-depleting and stressful time in my adult life.

How did we do it?

Well, it’s amazing what you can do when you really don’t have a choice. There were a LOT of people in similar situations as us. After a couple of weeks, Megan and I developed a parenting hack that I think was a total game changer for us both mentally and physically.

What was it?

A Day Off

We would trade off weekend days where one of us went full-time 1:2 with the kids while the other parent “disappeared.” There were only two rules:

1. Once you disappear, stay gone until the kids are in bed; don’t re-emerge

2. Don’t do work

God built in a sabbath day from day one. After implementing our own personal “sabbath” times, we both discovered the inherent wisdom in sabbathing.

The time was ours to do whatever we wanted to. I remember my first afternoon off I had these plans of doing all this writing and reading. All of these hobbies that were still good on their own but still had a productive element. About 15 minutes into my time, I ended up taking a nap. Then I gave up on trying to do anything “productive.”

At first, I felt guilty about having all that quiet free time and not using it “wisely.” As it turned out, wasting time was time wisely spent.

My time off for the subsequent weekends was used mainly watching movies I wanted to see but never got around to, reading if I really felt like it or taking large naps. Dedicating that time to being useless gave me the recharge I needed to get back into the flow of work and being a dad. I know Megan shared a similar feeling.

Those dedicated afternoons off to do absolutely nothing were probably the single greatest tool we had to combat burnout.

So what about the days where one of us was 1:2 with the kids all day? It’s ironic - they were actually a lot easier. It’s amazing (and honestly a tad infuriating) how much better behaved they are with only one of us around. The days weren’t conflict free by any stretch but I really enjoyed that solo time with them as well.

I could see us maintaining this hobby to some degree for the foreseeable future. It’s amazing what just a few hours of unproductive silence can do for a person.

How about you? What are some new habits you built in during our months of social distancing to stay sane?