Organizing Yourself as a Parent

One of my favorite excuses of people who constantly run late is to blame their tardiness on their kids (I hope you picked up on the sarcasm). Sorry! That doesn't cut it with me. Just because you have kids doesn't make it more acceptable to be disorganized. It means that you have to organize yourself differently because you're not only responsible for yourself but you're responsible for those munchkins too. There are tons of images of "planner pads" in this post that will give you some tips.


Just as I said in my last note, organizing yourself starts with motivation. You need to want to be organized. Talk to your spouse, if you have one, and figure out how to organize your family's day-to-day activities. This requires basic planning and communication. Then, if your kids are old enough, involve them in the conversation about how you are going to organize your family. Once your family begins its organized life you must hold yourself, your spouse and your children accountable for sticking with it. If you don't, the whole concept could crumble.

I don't have kids myself, but if I were to inherit one today here's what I would do: make a schedule and stick to it! I do know that kids love boundaries and love to know what to expect. The basis of your schedule totally depends on your family, the ages of your kids, the season and a whole lot more.

For those of you parents who have overachieving kids who are signed up for tons of extracurricular activities, my advice to you is to make a separate schedule with the kids' after school activities. Here's how: print off a blank month-long calendar and assign a different color marker to each child, then color code each activity on the calendar throughout the month. To further organize yourselves as parents, make a symbol by the activity to denote which parent is in charge of transportation - better yet, assign a symbol for carpooling, too. I think that communicating with your spouse about potential conflicts as well as who is responsible for being the taxi is very essential to being an organized family. Other alternatives are to get a weekly or monthly dry erase calendar, find a notepad with a weeklong schedule layout, get a family tracker notepad or have the kids help you by decorating a large calendar that you can hang on the wall.

As for running late... I understand that there are days when little Benny just does not want to cooperate, but for the most part your kids should be ready to head out the door with you each morning. On time. Help them to set out their clothes the night before, pack their backpack or their diaper bag before bed, get their lunch and snack together ahead of time, set their shoes and coat out by the door. If your kids are old enough to do these things themselves I hope you will hold them responsible for planning ahead - this will only help them in the long run. Also, if it helps, create a morning schedule for the kids outlining what needs to happen in order to get out the door at x O'clock and hang the schedule to where they can follow it. Do the same for preparing ahead for the day to come.


Things to factor in when planning family activities (of course depending on the age of your kids): are you interrupting nap time?, will this overlap with a meal?, what snacks and drinks do I need to bring?, is it going to rain or snow?, do I need to bring sunscreen?, will the kids get dirty?, is it a long drive - what will the kids do in the car?, are there scheduling conflicts?, do I need to bring a change of clothes?, do I know how to get there? Figure out the answers to these questions and plan ahead to make a seamless day for your family.

Some other helpful resources: www.theorganizedparent.com, www.supernanny.com, www.familieswithpurpose.com, Parent magazine, Child magazine, watch Jon & Kate Plus Eight on TLC or keep reading this blog. I'm sure I'll come up with more ideas to help you and your family stay organized.

The planner pads featured in this post were used from www.familieswithpurpose.com, where you can purchase these fantastic organizational helpers.)