Whether you’re dealing with little munchkins or terrible teens and a family pet too, we all know that keeping on top of your family’s schedule can be exhausting. Whatever your family, the one thing that will help keep your everyone on track during the daily schedule will be communication.
Don’t forget that if you have a babysitter, housekeeper or dog walker you’ll need to include them too to stay on top of when they’re helping out.
To get started we’ve identified 6 tips to help you organize your family:
1. White Board
A low-tech but tried-and-tested tool for coordinating is the white board. Families love it because they can hang it in high-traffic areas like the kitchen and add or delete activities as necessary. From the school lunch menu to notable events during the week, everyone sees it, and it can be changed on the fly.
2. Shared Calendar
Setting up a shared calendar can help struggling families keep all the moving parts harnessed. With a shared calendar, everyone can update the information in ‘real-time.’ Use settings to color-code activities, like school events, work or doctor’s appointments, and make easy to-do list creators.
3. Wall Calendar
The wall calendar is just as good. Whether weekly or monthly, visual display helps families keep ahead of the schedule and prioritize planned activities. Whether its enabling everyone to get a grip on the week ahead or look forward to a family holiday, the wall calendar can help keep everyone engaged.
4. Pop-Ups / Alerts
A great feature of digital calendars is the pop-up reminder. You can set calendar alerts to notify you of a coming event 5, 10 or 15 minutes in advance, so you stay on schedule. Likewise, digital calendars have an option to email you when an activity is coming up. For those of you who already get too many emails, you may want to use this function sparingly.
5. Syncing Smartphone
Since iPhones and Androids are pretty common these days, many families use the automatic syncing system to update family calendars. Smartphones take the work out of ensuring that all calendars are up-to-date. Once you’ve set up a shared family calendar, all phones and computers that are networked to the calendar will automatically refresh whenever you or your family members update the schedule.
6. Nighttime Check-In
One last review before bed each night can help prep for the following day. Touch base with each child to see if anything new has come up that you need to be aware of. These steps can make a world of difference between frantic scrambling and a morning of peace.
The key to staying on schedule is figuring out what works best for your family. Some may prefer seeing a hanging schedule that they can update during the day, while others may feel more comfortable with a digital calendar that automatically updates for them. Talk to your family about what makes the most sense for your lifestyle, then customize your system to keep your family on track.
Also, check out: 4 Tips for Raising An Organized Child