Our COVID-19 Schedule as Working Parents with a Toddler

As daycare centres are closed due to the ongoing pandemic, our 19 month old toddler has been spending the past 4+ weeks at home with my wife and I. We knew pretty soon that we needed a strict routine for all of us to stay sane in these unprecedented times.

The daily rhythm that a routine introduces is one of the things we’ve adopted from the book “Simplicity Parenting” by Kim John Payne and Lisa M. Ross. So far, I believe this rhythm is the most important thing allowing us to cope and balance work with caring for our son. A helping factor: My wife is self employed and has been able to get by on about 4 hours of work for as long as I can remember (with a satisfactory income), and my company has gone into short-time work, reducing my hours to 50% = 4 hrs / day as well.

So without further ado, here’s is our unedited schedule:

Time	Activity
6:30 – 8:00 am	Wake up, play and prepare breakfast with Dad.
8:00 – 10:00 am	Mom’s 1st work slot; morning cirle and some music, then get dressed & play with dad and go for a 1 hr stroll to the lake (throwing stones and watching ducks).
10:00 am – 2:00 pm	Dad works; art hour with Mom, then lunch and nap time.
2:00 – 5:00 pm	Mom’s 2nd work slot; snack time with Dad, then building fortresses from the sofa and going outside for some light gardening.
5:00 – 6:00 pm	Family hour, playing and reading together, and sharing stories about our days.
6:00 – 7:30 pm	Dinner, then getting ready for bed and finally story time before laying down with Dad.
7:30 – 8:30 pm	Pre-cooking tomorrow’s lunch.
8:30 – 10:00 pm	Parents’ time off to wind down and spend some time together.