Bedrooms and kitchens as the office: How to train an enterprise from home
This disruption isn’t just an economic shock: it's a shock to customer behaviors and business models, making remote work and e-learning critical to success.
It feels like a lifetime ago: March 2020, when we all thought we’d be staying home for a couple of weeks at most. But we’ve learned so many lessons about ourselves and our resilience between then and now; chief among them is that our post-pandemic future won’t resemble our past.
Not everyone will return to their offices, and many aspects of life that became virtual out of necessity will remain so, in some cases for the better. We also learned that developing our kids’ social and emotional intelligence, especially through reading, is as important as ever — and it’s important for us, too.
Let’s start with why reading together is critical for your kids’ development.
When I was a twelfth-grade teacher in an underserved community, too often I discovered that many of my students were reading at fifth-grade level, at best. They’d struggle not just in school that year, but well beyond — whether at their jobs after graduation, or down the line.
Young children should be read to for 20 minutes each day and hear 30,000 unique words to be on track for a third-grade reading level by third grade.
The more you engage with your kids now through reading, the better and easier their lives will be as they grow into adults. It’s really that simple.
But how is reading with your kids a benefit to you in the here and now?
Parents are struggling to balance remote work with engaging, entertaining, and educating their kids. Mere survival is the order of each day, not developing kids’ love of reading and realizing the benefits this activity brings. Parents have started asking their relatives across town or across the country to read to their kids virtually so parents can be free to focus on work.
What parents found: Engagement is everything. And it doesn’t always have to be you doing the reading to help your kids gain the benefits of reading with children.
All screen time isn’t created equal: Focus on smart screen time, not sedentary
We all know that putting kids on Zoom or FaceTime with their grandparents or cousins might buy you five minutes of peace at most. Same goes for the Facebook Live magic shows and singalongs we attempted when the pandemic hit. All this is sedentary screen time with minimal engagement — it doesn’t have short- or long-term value for you or for your kids, as they’re likely to get up and walk away.
But with reading there’s educational engagement, which brings the opportunity for kids to develop the social and emotional learning they need.
In simpler terms: Reading with your kids is likely to make parenting easier over the long run. Any familiar voice delivering the words, story, and message is what matters.
Sure, if you rely on a relative to engage your kids — in person or online — while you’re trying to do your job, it’ll potentially save you from experiencing a BBC News-like moment, with your kids bursting into your workspace amid an important call.
But the real benefit is that via reading, kids learn boundaries over time, what’s appropriate, and what isn’t. So interrupting your workday is less of a concern, generally, if kids have developed social and emotional skills through reading and a basic love of books.
The benefits of reading to children: Social, emotional, scholastic
Whether in person or over a video chat, when your kids read with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins, they’re developing bonds with those family members. (Reading to kids online is great for grandparents, many of whom suffer from the adverse effects of social isolation in normal times, never mind during a pandemic.)
Think of the last call you had with a toddler or other young relative — not much to talk about, was there? But reading a story together and exploring its message can lead to longer, more sustained and formative conversations. All of this helps your kids learn, grow, and love.
Your current employee experience determines future customer loyalty
How you treat both employees and customers right now will ultimately be what folks remember. It will drive loyalty, or it will drive churn.
So let’s recap. The benefits of reading to children are myriad – for both your kids and you. Take every opportunity to read to them, including using apps with relatives and physical books.
Some of those benefits of reading to children include:
- You gain the time and space needed to focus on work if friends and relatives read to your kids, in person or through a video chat.
- Each time you read a physical book with your kids, you’ll be more and more engaged — and your kids will be, too.
- Developing kids’ love of reading now will make them better, more eager learners later — relieving long-term pressure as a parent. Children will better handle their schoolwork and homework as they get older.
- Reading helps build social and emotional learning capabilities that make parenting easier in a variety of situations.
- Trust and strong connections with other family members and caregivers will be built, and boosting kids’ confidence and independence.
There’s a good way to know that your kids are on the right track: when they eagerly walk over to the shelf, pull down a book, and start flipping through the pages on their own. That’s as sure a sign as any that they’re developing a love of reading, both online and off, and that they’re building the skills and emotional intelligence they’ll need to rely on every day.
And the more you and your extended family make time to read, the easier the rest of parenting becomes. Best of all, reading together as a family is among the keys that will prove so important as we all seek support and connections to face the challenges of parenting and managing a career from home.
That’s why I’m proud to be a part of the Back to Best for Parents program, brought to you by SAP in partnership with The Female Founder Collective and TIME for Kids.
