Remote working with kids: How to make the family workation work

Workation · 25 October 2024

The idea sounds great: a few weeks out of the home office, into the mountains, kids in tow, still working. In practice, many workations fail because neither the work nor the family gets what they need. Doing both half-heartedly doesn't feel like a holiday – but it doesn't feel like a productive workday either.

The deciding factor is structure. Not because you need to be a control freak, but because clear schedules take away the guilt. When the kids are at daycamp from 9 to 12 and you know you have three uninterrupted hours, you actually work. And when the afternoon belongs to the family, it belongs to the family – no laptop.

The friLingue Daycamp is the key for many. Children between 6 and 17 are looked after during the day – language courses, sport, creative workshops, excursions into nature. Not just childminding, but a real programme. The kids come home exhausted and happy in the evening, and you've worked productively without once hearing: 'Mum, I'm bored.'

Why typical workations fail

The workspace matters more than you'd think. The hostels offer quiet co-working areas with good WiFi, often with views directly into the mountains. That's not a gimmick – anyone who has worked in this environment knows that focus comes more easily when the view is open. No office door, no open-plan noise, no commute.

One important tip: communicate with your team in advance. Explain that you're reachable between 9am and 2pm and not in the afternoon. Most employers and teams handle this well – especially when results are delivered. Remote work is measured by output, not by presence.

The biggest obstacle is often the guilt – in both directions. When you're working, you think about the kids. When you're with the kids, the inbox is running in the background. The Family Hostel helps because the handovers are clear: daycamp time is work time, community time is family time. The separation happens physically and temporally – and therefore mentally too.

The Family Hostel model

What many underestimate: nature as a productivity factor. A half-hour walk before the laptop opens, a quick breath of fresh air at midday – that's not a luxury, it's brain hygiene. Studies show that short breaks in nature restore concentration more effectively than screen breaks. In Braunwald or in Valais, that's right outside the door.

A typical workation day: 7:30am shared breakfast in the community kitchen. 9:00am kids to daycamp, you to your desk. 12:00pm lunch break – cook together or a quick walk. 1pm to 3pm another focused work block. From 3pm the rest belongs to the adventure programme: hiking, biking, swimming, whatever the kids want.

Who is this for? Not just freelancers or digital nomads. Many employees today have remote-capable jobs and use the workation with employer agreement. Project managers, designers, developers, consultants – anyone who already works from home can do it from the Alps. Sometimes all it takes is asking.

What a typical day looks like

The family workation isn't a compromise. It's its own way of living work and family – without sacrificing one for the other. When the framework is right, when the kids are happily busy at daycamp, when the network works and the mountains are waiting, this isn't a makeshift solution. It's the better version of working from home.