Organizing Family Schedules

Life can get pretty hectic. With each member of your family involved in different activities each day such as work, school, sports, after-school activities, and other obligations, it can be difficult just to keep up with where each person is at any given time. This can be stressful and cause unneeded worry and anxiety.

It would be great to find a way to eliminate the confusion of the schedules of each family member, but where can you start? Don't feel discouraged. Instead, get your family together and hold a meeting where you will discuss everyone's different obligations each day and come up with a detailed schedule. Once you have this information, you can look at how to organize it.

Of course, cellular phones have helped families stay connected, but it's not always convenient to call someone up to ask, "where are you?" Instead, it helps to have an organized schedule detailing each family member's daily activities.

To make sure that your family's schedules stay organized, consider some of these ideas:

• Get a calendar and have your family members write on it every month. They should include things like sports practice, going to a friend's house, appointments, and other activities.
• Use a white board to help keep schedules organized. Have a section of the white board for each family member. Your family can write important information on this white board such as where they are going, phone numbers where they can be reached, and reminders. You might even assign each family member a different color of dry erase marker.
• If you want a more portable way to keep track of your family's schedules, try a pocket planner. You can write down important information so that you will always have it on hand. Also, use your cell phone to set calendar appointments and alarms to keep you up to speed on everyone's schedules.
• Hold family meetings once in a while to keep your family updated. Have everyone share what events or obligations he or she will be involved with in the near future so the rest of the family can be aware and plan accordingly. A big change in someone's schedule can be a good reason to hold a meeting.

Although it can be a little difficult to get things organized at first, keeping track of everyone's schedules can help all members of the family feel informed and aware of one another's plans. This will help everyone avoid complications and miscommunications.