5 Automations Every Work-From-Home Parent Needs

5 Automations Every Work-From-Home Parent Needs

Are you tired of constantly juggling work and family responsibilities? As a parent working from home, finding that perfect balance can feel like an impossible task. With the lines between work and home life blurring, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed.

In this article, we’ll explore how home automation can help alleviate some of those stresses. We’ll look at five automations that focus on the safety and security of your children, maintaining a healthy work-life balance while working from home, and finding ways to increase productivity and reduce distractions.

We’ll also identify who can benefit from these automations, provide example implementations for each one, and list the necessary devices. The main prerequisite, of course, is that you already have a home automation hub that can support these automations. Let’s get started!

Who Can Benefit from These Automations?

For many parents, working from home is a choice made to be closer to their children. It can be a rewarding choice, but it also comes with its own set of challenges. On one hand, it offers the opportunity to be more present in your children’s lives. On the other hand, it can blur the lines between work and home life, making it challenging to maintain a healthy balance.

This delicate balance can be further complicated during school breaks and holidays. With children home all day, you may find it difficult to maintain your work schedule while also providing adequate supervision and engagement for your kids.

Similar issues arise when one or both parents work non-traditional hours, while children are home from school, or in unexpected situations when you are unable to arrange childcare.

Even if you do not work from home, but instead have a hobby that you cannot share with your children, these automations may help you be productive during the times you want to dedicate to your hobby.

Safety, Balance, and Productivity

Ensuring the safety and security of your children when you are busy working is a top priority. Automations can help you monitor your children’s activities, control access to certain areas of the home, and receive alerts if anything unusual occurs. This peace of mind allows you to focus on your work tasks without the constant worry about your children’s well-being.

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is crucial for both productivity and family harmony. Automation can help you create a more structured and efficient work environment. By setting up routines and automated systems, you can carve out dedicated work areas and times, ensuring that both work and family time are respected and optimized.

Finally, finding ways to increase productivity and reduce distractions is essential for parents working from home. Automations can streamline daily tasks and free up time and mental energy for you to focus on your work and also spend quality time with your children.

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Automation 1: Monitoring and Alerts

The first automation is about monitoring your children’s presence and activities, and receive notifications when something is out of the ordinary. By integrating cameras, motion sensors, and contact sensors into a home automation system, you can monitor your children’s activities in real-time.

The system can detect if a child enters an off-limits area like the garage or basement, or if they open a cabinet or a door without permission. In such cases, you can receive an instant notification on your dashboard or smartphone. Additionally, the system can provide visual notifications by changing the color of a light in your office and audio notifications from a connected speaker.

For the light you can use an RGB light bulb on your desk lamp, or a connected LED strip that can also function as ambient lighting for atmosphere.

Example Implementation

The implementation of this automation is similar to a security system. Here’s an example of how it could work:

Triggers:

  • When the motion sensor near the entrance activates
  • When the basement door contact sensor opens
  • When the door to the garage contact sensor opens
  • When the balcony door contact sensor opens
  • When a cabinet door contact sensor opens
  • When the fridge door contact sensor opens

Conditions:

  • Between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm
  • On workdays

Actions:

  • Change the color of the office desk lamp to red.
  • Change the color of the office LED strip to red.
  • Send a notification to the dashboard.
  • Toggle a video feed of the interior cameras on the dashboard.
  • Wait 30 seconds.
  • Return the office lamp to its normal color.
  • Return the LED strip to its normal color.

Equipment

To implement this automation, you will need the following equipment:

  • Contact sensors for every door, window and cabinet you would like to monitor.
  • Optionally, motion sensors to detect presence in specific areas of your home.
  • One or more cameras for the areas you want to monitor. Ensure the cameras work locally without cloud access and use a secure password to protect your privacy.
  • Optionally, a smart RGB light bulb or LED strip.
  • Optionally, a speaker connected to your home automation system.

For most of these automations, it would be beneficial, if not necessary, to have a dashboard easily accessible at all times. It can be on a dedicated device, like an extra tablet, or on a second monitor of your computer in a browser window.

Automation 2: Automate Your Office Space

The objective of the second automation is to save you time by preparing your workspace before you start work. The automation can be activated based on a set schedule or the first time you open the door to your office space in the morning.

The first step would be setting a comfortable temperature. The correct temperature is essential for maintaining focus and comfort, but it’s something you have to remember to set up in advance because it takes time. Air conditioning units, radiator valves, fans or smaller electrical heating devices, can all be automated for this purpose. You can also use a dedicated temperature and humidity sensor to monitor your office space and assist in this automation.

The second step is about proper lighting. It can be either natural light by automating blinds, or artificial light using smart switches and light bulbs. This not only enhances your productivity but also creates a comfortable and inviting work environment.

Finally, you can prepare your work computer by using a feature called “Wake on LAN”. This allows your home automation system to turn on your computer if they are in the same network. Usually, to take advantage of this feature you need to enable it in the bios or advanced settings, so it is a little more involved to set up, but there are a lot of online guides to show you how, depending on your system. You can also set the software you use more often to open at startup. This process will depend on the operating system of your computer though and is not related to your home automation hub.

By entering a space already set with your preferred conditions, you can switch faster mentally to work mode and not waste time preparing, allowing you a little more time with your children in the morning. You can also create a similar routine to turn off everything in your workspace after you finish work for the day.

Example Implementation

Triggers:

  • At 8:30 am

Conditions:

  • On workdays

Actions:

  • If the office temperature is below 20oC, turn on the office AC in Heat mode.
  • If the office temperature is above 24oC, turn on the office AC in Cool mode.
  • Wait 25 minutes.
  • Set the blinds to 40% open.
  • Turn on the desk light at a cool temperature and 80% brightness.
  • Send a “Wake on LAN” to my work PC MAC address.

Equipment

To implement this automation, you will need the following equipment:

  • A temperature sensor for your office area.
  • An IR/RF controller to control your AC or fan, depending on the type of remote controller they use.
  • Alternatively, for a fan or heater, you can use a smart socket that can handle the power of the connected device.
  • Smart light bulbs for the required lights or a smart wall switch or dimmer.
  • Smart blind controllers if you want to control them.

Automation 3: Notifications for Work Hours

The third automation is about work-life balance. One effective way to achieve this is by setting clear boundaries between work and leisure time. Automation can help by providing visual and audio notifications when it’s time to start or end work.

Similar to the notification earlier about when something is out of the ordinary in your children’s activities, you can set notifications and visual or audio alerts based on your schedule. This builds a routine and informs everyone in the house when work time starts and when it ends. This helps create a clear mental shift, allowing you to fully engage in work during work hours and fully relax during leisure time.

Example Implementation

Triggers:

  • At 8:50 am

Conditions:

  • On workdays

Actions:

  • Play an alert on the speakers: “Ten minutes until work starts.”
  • Wait 10 minutes.
  • Turn on the living room floor lamp in green color.
  • Wait 5 minutes.
  • Turn off the living room floor lamp.

Equipment

To implement this automation, you will need the following equipment:

  • A connected speaker. For privacy reasons, and if you do not care about voice commands, you can use a device without a microphone, only for audio alerts and music.
  • A smart RGB light bulb for visual indication.

Automation 4: Do Not Disturb Light

The fourth automation is about increasing focus and reducing distractions. A visual indication that you are in a meeting or doing work that cannot be disturbed is always useful. You can set up a specific light outside your office space or in the living room to server that function. You can control it through a dashboard or a dedicated wireless button.

Additionally, you can configure your home automation system to turn on the TV with your chosen content, such as a favorite show or a video playlist, at the same time the light turns on. This can help keep your children engaged and entertained, minimizing disruptions and allowing you to focus on your work.

Example Implementation

Turn on:

Triggers:

  • When I press the office desk button once.

Actions:

  • Turn on the hallway accent light in red color.
  • Turn on the living room TV
  • Play a pre-selected show on the living room TV

Turn off:

Triggers:

  • When I press the office desk button twice.

Actions:

  • Turn off the hallway accent light.

Complementary automation: You could also set up an additional automation to turn off the TV when the show is over if the “Do Not Disturb” light is off.

Equipment

To implement this automation, you will need the following equipment:

  • A smart RGB light bulb for the hallway accent light.
  • A TV capable of connecting to your home automation hub.
  • Optionally, a wireless button for the desk. You can also a virtual button on the dashboard to activate the automation.

Automation 5: Goodnight Routine

This automation can be useful for every parent, not only those working from home. Most parents would agree that a consistent bedtime routine is critical. Automation can help make this routine smoother and more enjoyable for everyone.

You can set up your home automation system to dim the lights in the kids’ rooms or any area where they spend time in the evening, 30 minutes before bedtime. This helps signal the start of the winding-down process. You can also use an audio alert to notify children that it’s time to pick up their toys or brush their teeth.

Finally, when it’s actually time for bed you can automatically turn on a night light or play relaxing music in the speakers. This creates a calming atmosphere, making it easier for your children to fall asleep peacefully.

Example Implementation

Triggers:

  • At 8:30 pm

Conditions:

  • On workdays

Actions:

  • Dim the kid’s bedroom light to 50%
  • Wait 15 minutes
  • Play a sound alert on the speakers.
  • Wait 15 minutes.
  • Turn off the ceiling light in the kid’s bedroom.
  • Turn on the table light at 10% brightness in a warm color.
  • Play a sleep playlist on the speaker.
  • Wait 60 minutes.
  • Turn off the speaker.

Equipment

To implement this automation, you will need the following equipment:

  • Smart RGB light bulbs or smart dimmers.
  • A connected speaker with the same specifications mentioned in automation 3.

Your Next Steps

In this article, we’ve explored five home automation ideas that can help parents and professionals working from home find a better balance between work and family life. These automations, from monitoring your children’s safety to creating a soothing bedtime routine, can hopefully provide a little reprieve form the demanding life of a parent.

Of course, the feasibility and effectiveness of these automations will depend on your specific conditions, like the age of your children and the nature of your work. Remember that the end goal is to reduce stress and create a more harmonious environment, so if an automation does not work towards that goal and creates more friction, you should modify it or even remove it.

So, what’s the next step? Start by identifying which automations could benefit you the most and customize them to fit your unique needs. By discussing these ideas with your whole family, you can identify your real needs and design automations that provide actual value, allowing you to spend more quality time with your loved ones.

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Photo credit: Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels