Go Tell Mom
Go Tell Mom
Go Tell Mom - s3e2 - Setting Kids' Schedules
Dianna Kelly and Sheri Waltz discuss keeping the kids on task so you don’t go crazy.
Today’s Parent on setting up a schedule: https://www.todaysparent.com/family/how-to-get-your-family-organized-and-on-schedule-in-three-steps/
Freedomsprout.com on de-stressing through organization: https://freedomsprout.com/weekly-family-schedule/
CamilleStyles.com on syncing calendars: https://camillestyles.com/wellness/how-to-organize-your-family-calendar/
GO TELL MOM – Scheduling the Kids
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: you’re about to go to bed when your teen pops up wild-eyed with bedhead and tells you she needs two dozen cupcakes for school the next morning.
Yes, this has happened to me. Not always cupcakes, but something needed for class. Always a last-minute trip to Walmart or a drugstore, or some store with 24-hour service. Unless we’re talking Halloween costume, and those I could usually cobble together.
It’s so much easier if the kids actually show you the requirement when they get it, so you can schedule it in. Of course, that requires setting up a schedule.
Today’s Parent suggests holding a weekly family meeting to make sure you’re all on track. Ideally you do this a few weeks before the start of the school year.
Set up your goals and priorities. If a goal is to improve grades in school, homework is a priority. Sleep should be a priority (and not just the kids’ sleep!) Every family member should add at least one item to the agenda. Your schedule could look like: 7 AM – get ready and wake kids, 8:30 AM – drop kids off and drive to work, 9AM – respond to emails, 10 AM – meet with client, 11:30 – lunch with coworker, 1 PM - board meeting, 2:30 – Zoom call with client, 3 PM – baseball practice, 4:30 PM – drive home and pick up kids from practice, 5PM – homework, 6:30 PM – dinner.
At each weekly meeting, go over what went well, what didn’t go well, and how to improve the following week. Keep in mind, you need to streamline your work time as well as your kids’ school time to stay on track. Freedomsprout.com says weekly planning takes out the stress of disorganization. And remember, a planning schedule is designed to be flexible. Don’t let your schedule dictate your life. The idea behind planning is to gauge how long activities take so you know what will fit comfortably in your schedule.
Another important part of planning is to post a schedule. A physical schedule works best when multiple people need to see it. Yep, I’d post rehearsal schedules and game schedules on the fridge…but you’re better off transferring everything to a stick-up whiteboard calendar or magnetic calendar where you can mark down everything, not just something specific like “bring cupcakes.”
When organizing your family calendar, camillestyles.com suggests including for each event: who and how you get there, what you might need while there, and necessary contacts. Make sure you sync with everyone’s individual calendars, creating a central family calendar. Camillestyles also mentions color-coding the users, and let the kids pick their own colors. That makes it easier to see who’s doing what at a glance. And giving the kids a choice makes it more likely that they’ll buy into the scheduling process.
A family calendar doesn’t work unless everyone’s on board. And because the goal is to have a living document that accurately tracks where everyone is at all times, every family member has to be committed to making that happen.
Unless you like baking cupcakes at midnight.
