What about you? You have to care for the household. Cooking, cleaning, and helping with school work, making sure your family gets to where they are going on time. How do make sure everything gets done when 5 times out 7 there are just not enough hours in the day?
Time Management!
Sounds easy don't it? Well, not always but it can be if you take the time to sit down and write out schedules. Even still this is an enormous headache all unto itself. You have to coordinate EVERYONE's schedules. Each member of your household has individual things going on and sometimes they unavoidably overlap. It is your job to make sure everything is scheduled out so that very little activities overlap, making life more manageable.
I prefer to take it to the computer. I go into Word and make a column for each person in the house. I do their schedules all at the same time, starting from the time a person is to wake up to when they go to bed. I found that doing it this way was much easier. I first I wrote out a schedule for each person individually. What ended up happening is I once again overlapped activities that just simply couldn't overlap, such as having two kids in the same bath. Yeah, that won't work...at least not in my house. So once I brought it to the computer and where I could see and make all of the schedules at the same time, it got a bit easier.
I personally do seasonal schedules. What this means is I coordinate and write up schedule for the months of June through July and then back to the drawing board for August through October, November through February, etc. Why do I do this? Well, the schedules change. The kids are out of school in June and July so they have more time that needs to be scheduled. Not to mention, what about sports? Baseball isn't played all year round so why would you schedule baseball practice in December or January? Be realistic. Understand that schedules change. If your child plays baseball one season and has practice on Mondays at 5:00pm; the next season he may have practice on Thursdays at 6:00pm. So be prepared to re-evaluate schedules as need be.
Also, when scheduling your child's activities, remember they are children and they need free time too. I schedule a few hours a day so that they can have free time. Granted, I do tell them that if they haven't completed a responsibility such as chores or homework, they don't get their free time. We as adults don't get free time until our responsibilities are done. I try to instill this in my children. Of course, I also tell them if they weren't goofing off when they were supposed to be doing their chores it would be done and they would be able to enjoy their free time.
We are in an age where there is so much on television and internet that not only does this need to be monitored, it needs to be limited. This goes for video games as well. I personally schedule all of these activities. They have a limited amount of time for all three. Take television for example, I ask my children what they enjoy watching. Then if I approve and it doesn't interfere with any of their responsibilities, I will schedule it. This also helps with the fight over the television. Video game time is also scheduled. I personally don't want my children becoming mindlessly obsessed with them. So they are limited to the time they have on video games. Internet is the same as television rules. I need to approve the site they go to and they must understand that I WILL monitor their activity. If they don't like it, then to bad. This is also scheduled because I know all to well how addicting the internet can be. So this too must be limited time. Granted, if they need to use the internet for a report then they are allow, but still monitored, to use a part of their homework or free time to do so.
I even go so far as to schedule times that they may hang out with their friends. This includes hanging out in person or on the phone. Socialization is good for them, but they don't need to spend every waking moment with friends. Granted, I do compromise the schedule if Sally calls to ask if Jane can stay the night. As long as she has her responsibilities covered and there isn't any other scheduling conflict such as appointments, then it is okay. Again, be willing to be flexible even with a set schedule.
Speaking of appointments, what about doctor appointments? How do you schedule that in? Well, in the Schedules section I do have a calendar to track the not so predictable appointments, such as a dentist appointment. Again, here comes the flexibility. You will just have to rearrange the schedule just for that day to accommodate the appointment.
What about babysitters? Make sure you have a copy of the schedules for the babysitter. Don't let your kids think that just because Mom and Dad are away that they don't have to follow a schedule. Make sure your babysitter understands this too. Also, the reason I suggest having a copy of the schedule for your babysitter is because you really don't need him/her going through you Household Management Manual. This is for your family not for them. So if your babysitter needs anything from your Household Management Manual, make sure there is a copy of the needed information for them. Of course, I like to keep a Babysitter Binder that has all of this in it, but that is a whole other topic.
Although I have schedules for my children, I try to be flexible. Say your child has done something you feel needs rewarding and want to go get ice cream with them at Baskin Robbins, the go do it. Just know that you and your child will have to mentally adjust the schedule. Don't be so strict with your kids regarding the schedules. This makes life dull. The purpose of the scheduling is to have structure. So if a spur of the moment fun idea or event comes up....go to it. Have fun with your family. Those schedules will still be there the next day.
We have many titles: housewife, stay-at-home mom, work-at-home mom, soccer mom, etc. Well, in all actuality we do hold many titles. In this topic, we are in management. So we are the General Manager of our household. Think back to the work place. What did your manager/supervisor do? What were his/her duties? Do you not do the same thing only in application to your household? So put your manager hat on and start managing your house so that you aren't under so much stress and can start appreciating your life some more.
