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Health & Fitness

An Organized Life: Time Management for Busy Families

As the busy Spring season kicks into full swing, check out these time planning tips for busy families.

All good organizing begins with planning the element of time.  As we enter the busy final weeks of school and head toward summer vacation, a look at family time management is surely in order.  This time of year, kids are often overscheduled with music lessons, homework, spring sports and other extracurriculars, not to mention the ever-present homework. This causes books, sports equipment and clothing, musical instruments and the like to be strewn in the entryway as they arrive home and change gears for the next activity.

So, how do we, as parents, prevent chaos in the midst of busy season? How do we prevent our kids from feeling stressed, rushed and out-of-control of their schedules? The answer is taking control of the planning process and teaching our kids to do the same as they grow into adulthood.

5 Steps to Monitoring & Planning Your Child's Time

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1.  Create and fill a weekly time planner for each child regarding how he/she currently spends his/her time. Monitor for one week without directing. Be objective.

  • List weekdays and weekends
  • Make timeslots for AM, Midday, After School and PM

2.  Make a list of what is missing and evaluate what he/she is spending too much time on.

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3.  Sit down and talk to each child individually about what he/she needs and wants to be doing with his/her time now and discuss how that will change for the summer. Ask how your child would like to spend his/her time before and after school, in the afternoons and evenings.

4.  Factor what  you would like to see, what your child envisions and consider how this fits with the rest of the family members.

5.  If your child is overbooked, discuss their priorities in terms of which activities they really want to keep, which they can postpone and which ones can be dropped. Of course, you have the final word in the negotiations. 

You can use sticky notes to add missing items and move things around on the schedule. As you look to summer, don't forget to consider summertime chores, summer tutoring/lessons, keeping up with the summer reading list, music practice, camps and physical activity. More about summer planning to come in future editions.

Armed with this information and these conversations, you should be able to arrive at and agree upon a schedule for the spring and entering into the summer. Plan to reconvene in July or early August to begin planning for fall of 2011-12 academic year.

If you are super busy and need assistance or have a family member who is resistant to discussing the schedule or their goals with a parent, calling an organizer or coach is a great idea to mediate the discussions. I am here to help get your family ready for the exciting months to come!

With care,

Jen Heard, MBA - Organizer/Coach

www.cleansweepconsulting.net

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