Thursday, September 12, 2024

We get it. “All the things” are in full swing! Here are 7 hacks to help you manage your family’s calendar and schedule:

1. Put Your Calendar on Display
   • You know that twinge of anxiety you get when a waiter takes your order but doesn’t write anything down? We accept a similar risk when we store upcoming plans in our head—and even when we keep them to ourselves on paper. Share the wealth of knowledge with your family by putting your schedule on a calendar—go big if you can—and displaying it for everyone to see.
2. Utilize the Power of Color Coding
   • Embrace your inner middle schooler by grabbing some highlighters, pens, or markers in different colors and applying a system of sorts to your scheduling. You might give each family member a color or divide colors by activity type.
3. Hold a Monthly Family Meeting
   • Gather your whole crew together at the start of each month to chat about how things went last month. What’s going well? What needs to change? Then talk about what’s to come. Fill in your calendar with known plans and discuss things you’d like to do or need to do in the coming weeks.
4. Set Aside Ten Minutes Each Week for a Check-In
   • You can involve the whole family in this check-in or, if you have young kids in the mix, just include teens and adults. This is your opportunity to avoid any confusion or assumptions over the big five: who, what, when, where, and how. Quickly review your schedule for the next seven days to make sure all of your logistics are covered.
5. Limit Extra-Curricular Activities
   • It may sound harsh, but consider limiting sports and extra-curricular activities to one (maybe two) commitments per person each season. This will give your family some room to breathe and allow each individual space to think creatively and try out new hobbies and interests along the way.
6. Create a System to Stay on Top of Chores
   • Instead of cramming chores on your one free weekend of the month, establish a daily plan for tackling chores in small doses so nothing gets out of hand. You might do a daily ten-minute tidy, where everyone pitches in to straighten up before bed, or assign each family member a room that needs to be cleaned—top to bottom—by the end of each week.
7. Create and Protect Sacred Times
   • Consider your calendar and the personality of your family to settle on a sacred time when you can all be together without the distraction of daily life. Maybe you’ll do pizza and a movie on Friday nights. Or perhaps you’ll declare the first Saturday of the month an adventure day—hike, bike, and explore for the morning, followed by a family picnic. Protect these moments, including attending church as a family, whenever you can.

Don’t let your calendar take you for a ride. You’ve got more ownership than you think! Schedule what matters most.