Part of parenting is keeping life organized. Your kids might have extracurricular activities and after-school hobbies that keep you on the go. Understanding how to schedule all these things, on top of the home and work responsibilities can feel like a lot. Although managing everything can be overwhelming, it’s your job to do everything. There is no way to sugarcoat it, but you can make your days a little sweeter. Here are four ways to become a more organized parent, so things feel less intense.
1. Keep A Family Planner
You might already have a work planner, and a handful of sticky notes around your house, but there may be more effective ways to manage your life as a parent. Instead of hoping you bump into the right reminder at the right time, keep a family planner to organize your family gatherings as well as all your activities and to-dos in one place.
You can even find customizable planners to fill in everything you need to get done based on your family’s schedule. Now, you won’t forget to bring your kid’s water bottle to their next game, yay! See what’s out there and find a reliable paper organization system you can refer to as needed.
2. Set Phone Reminders
Remember, automated features are your friend. When scheduling your family life, you need to remember that you won’t remember everything. Take some of the weight off your shoulders by using your phone Reminders App to schedule some of your to-dos. In fact, if you’re aware that you’re more likely to forget a particular task, that is the task to plug into your phone!
If you set your reminders an hour ahead, you can prepare for the unexpected and rearrange your schedule with enough notice. If you sync your reminders to your digital calendar, it will be even easier to remember all you have to do as a parent. Suddenly, remembering to pick the kids up from soccer doesn’t feel so scary!
3. Have A Formal Family Dinner
If you set up your household with more organization, the rest of the events around your home events will flow together with greater ease. For example, if you decide that your family will have a family dinner at 6 pm every night during the school week, you know that you have to get the other things on your list handled before or after this.
Hopefully, you’ll think to divide up your tasks and think of the big things on your own (like saving for your family vacation), but even if you forget, at least you have a designated time to attack your to-do list! You can create additional designated times for other things if that helps you stay organized as well. You might decide that Sunday morning is the time for laundry, or that grocery shopping is done on Monday evenings.
4. Schedule Family Time
As a parent, it’s important for you not to overlook the necessity of spending time together as a family. Schedule family time as often as it feels necessary to you so that this never gets put on the back burner. It can be so easy to skip a family game night when there are so many things to take care of. By scheduling family time, you can check off this essential most of the time.
The Bottom Line
Becoming a more organized parent is about mapping your life around your family’s needs. Keeping a family planner and using connected tools will help you feel organized and in control of your day. Here’s to organized and functional parenting made simple.