Tips for organising your family

[Luula]

While talking about self-care @JenniferS shared a great tip for organising the family's (often competing) demands. One night each week @JenniferS gets the whole family together for a co-ordination night to map out what's on for the weekend/week ahead. 

What other tips do parents have for managing different activities and schedules for the family?

[Mitzi]

I'm so lucky! In my household there's just me and my 16-y-o son.  His social life is way more interesting than mine. OK it's nerdy but we use a shared calendar on Google. Any cousin/aunt/uncle interaction goes on the calendar.

I also have his school calendar for Year 11 so we both know when assignments/exams are; and we have his Music Program calender on there, SydneyFC home games, NSW Dept of Education School Holidays. These are calendars made by others which I can import (ical or .ics format) into our Calendar,

Anything I want him to attend  or dental appointments I send him a calendar invite. He can accessthe calendar on his phone so if he's out with friends can check dates and avoid double-booking.

Sure, he stills says "Mum! Anything on this weekend?" but we've only used it for 8 years. He'll soon get the hang of it.

[readthemanual]

Good on you,@Mitzi, sounds very organized!

I have to say I am a messy person and have recently been very forgetful: i could forget about an event in 10 minutes after the alarm, which was set 30-60 minutes before the event for me to get ready and get to the place, and woke up being late!

I started to rely on my phone as well as my daughter to remind me of lots of things.

[NickiPower]

That's such a good idea! I guess I'm considered old school and have a standard calendar and getting any key dates on that is a stretch in my household. Perhaps making it digital would work a lot better! 

[Luula]

@YellowMango, @Crossfitmum, @mum_of_four do you have any household diary management tips? I'd love to hear them. 

[mum_of_four]

I have to have a diary that I carry everywhere.

It has to be doubled paged and week by week.  

My mind sometimes get so busy...I dont think straight. 

Also working at school, a diary helps, so I can plan my days off and whats going on each week of each term, for the year.  

Everything is written in there....right down to how I even feel. 

I put a term planner on my fridge so that the husband and youngest son can write on there things they have planned.

[Kalis]

These are excellent plans. Thanks for the tips!

A friend of mine uses an app (possibly Out of Milk?) to co-ordinate grocery shopping. So whoever happens to be swinging past the supermarket (usually after school pick up) can grab whatever is on the list. It's always up to date and everyone has a copy – easy!

[mirvat]

I am a mother of 5 children.

Every Friday night my children ask me what are we doing this weekend?

So each one of them has an idea what they want to do.

In the end my husband will suggest something based on the children's input so they all agree. My eldest daughter is 21 and my youngest child is 11. We believe it is very important to stay close as a family so all the children participate in the weekend activity.

[Sophi-RO]

Hey @ mirvat! So glad you found us... it's great to hear you get input from everyone, so everyone feels their opinions matter....

Would love to have you introduce yourself here...

Cheers

[Ngaio-RO]

Hi @ mirvat

It sounds like you guys have a great set up! Managing to entertain that age range is no easy feat, and I speak from experience. I know in my house there's a tendency to let the youngest have his way and just let the elder ones off attending but then we're not doing something as a family.

I'd love to hear what sort of things you guys do. And how you went about introducing that as a tradition in the family. Have you always done it that way or did it evolve over time?

Also, if you're new to forums in general and would like a bit of a walk-through. Click here for our new 'how to' video.