This is an I-Heart podcast.

Good morning. This is Laura.

Welcome to the new corner office, the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the new world of work,

where location and hours are more flexible than in the

past. Today's tip is to put your kids to work. If you're working at home, the lines between

work and home can be blurred. There are downsides to this, as anyone who spent an evening

half-checking email and half-puttering around the house knows.

But if your teen and pre-teen kids are around the house a lot more this summer, because of

canceled camps or summer jobs, then you might be able to put them on your team, so to speak,

so you can be at least a little more productive.

One obvious approach.

Specialize.

Mom and dad specialize in their paid work.

The kids can specialize in more of the home tasks

so you can focus on your jobs.

Kids who are older than about 10 or so

can learn to make simple meals,

like pasta with jarred sauce and a bagged salad or scrambled

eggs with cut-up fruit. Teenagers might enjoy cooking from meal kits like those from Sunbasket

or Hello Fresh. There's nothing quite like hanging up from your last client call at 6 p.m.

to emerge to dinner on the table. Hey, it could work. In any case, they can

definitely help with laundry and keeping the house tidy, so you don't have to do these things.

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