By Tiffany Ritz, Sales Marketing Director
For most of my career, I worked in a traditional office setting, and I also spent a handful of years as a stay-at-home mom after each of my daughters were born. Joining the Continued team allowed me to resume my marketing career while having the flexibility and advantage of remote work, which has been so refreshing and rewarding.
Recently, with school districts nationwide closing indefinitely to help slow the spread of COVID-19, many of my colleagues and I are attempting to juggle our full-time remote jobs with our kids at home.
For me, this feels like two full-time jobs—my role as sales marketing director simultaneously combined with my former role as a stay-at-home mom to my two daughters, ages 7 and 3.
Before schools closed, my typical workday started right after dropping off my girls each morning. At that point, I had the house completely to myself until my oldest daughter got off the bus around 3:00 pm. She could do her homework, play independently, or join me in my office for some iPad time until my husband and youngest daughter got home around 5:30 pm.
Now, it’s a FULL HOUSE, FULL TIME:
My husband is remote teaching, our 7-year-old is remote learning, our 3-year-old is craving attention, and for me, it’s business as usual…with a twist. Here's a glimpse at a typical day:
7:30 am
We all wake up, eat breakfast, and get ready for the day. Under pre-pandemic circumstances, we had to get up earlier, so we are grateful to sleep a bit longer as part of our self-care during this challenging time.
8:00 am
When the kids are in school, I spend this hour of each day with them and forgo a traditional midday lunch break. Without the scramble to get both kids out the door and to their respective schools, I am in my office working by 8. My workday may be starting earlier than usual—but it’s far less quiet these days!
8:30 am
My husband, a second-grade teacher, logs on to start his online school day. I play a quick game of “Kids on Stage” with my 3-year-old in my office. It’s like charades for little ones, and she loves playing this in my office. This tides her over for a while so I can delve into some work.
As sales marketing director for Continued and our sister company, Simucase, I support our sales teams by planning and executing strategic marketing initiatives throughout the year that correspond with their business cycle. It’s certainly been an interesting juggle with the kids at home, but it helps to know that many of my coworkers are in the same boat. Everyone has approached this situation with a lot of grace and even a sense of humor about the joys and challenges our little “office mates” bring!
"It’s certainly been an interesting juggle with the kids at home, but it helps to know that many of my coworkers are in the same boat. Everyone has approached this situation with a lot of grace and even a sense of humor about the joys and challenges our little 'office mates' bring!"
12:30 pm
I take a short but official lunch break with my husband and girls. This gives us all a chance to spend some intentional time together in the middle of the day and is something we all appreciate.
1:00 pm
Naptime bribery for my 3-year-old (this could last a while!). If we’re lucky, we will get two hours of quiet time while she naps. My 7-year-old will play quietly or complete her online assignments from school with assistance from Dad. I make good use out of this precious time to tackle work while everyone is mostly occupied.
3:00 pm
Find new ways to entertain the girls once naptime is over. Check to make sure my 7-year-old completed her online learning assignments for the day.
3:30 pm
My husband logs off his computer and tends to the girls for the remainder of my work day. They either play in the basement or outside to offer me some quiet time.
5:15 pm
If weather permits, I join my family outside and we take a walk until dinnertime.
After dinner we play a family game before starting the bath and bedtime routine.
We jokingly refer to our home as “The Ritz” because we like to pretend that it’s a swanky place to stay with premium amenities such as 24/7 open pantry and easy toy accessibility. At this present moment, it feels a little more like “Hotel California” where you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave!
I know this challenging season will pass, so we’re doing our best to enjoy the extra family time and keep ourselves sane as we navigate this new routine of working from home with kids.
"Joining the Continued team allowed me to resume my marketing career while having the flexibility of remote work, which has been so refreshing and rewarding."
Tiffany Ritz brings extensive advertising and marketing experience to her role at Continued and Simucase.
As sales marketing director, she oversees the strategic planning, development and execution of all marketing initiatives to support the sales teams across the business.
She holds a journalism degree from Ohio University and lives in a suburb of Cleveland with her husband and their two fun-loving girls.