Children are wonderful blessings that bring busyness to our lives. Having a schedule helps to guide us in the direction that our days are going. Our children look to us to provide structure in their day. Children thrive on structure and routine. Pushing ourselves to create a routine requires discipline and time management.
Time management is keeping track of our time so that it is not wasted. How do we do this?
A schedule. It can be any kind of schedule on paper, google, calendar, filofax, or phone. We keep a check register to see where the money in our bank account goes so why not do the same with our time.
In this series on How To Make A Schedule With Kids (Part 2) I have touched on ways to start making a schedule. It takes time to tweek and make it work for your household. There are many wonderful books on starting and implementing a schedule like MOTH “Managers Of Our Homes” by Teri Maxwell. This book gives great insight on the scheduling process and why it is so important.
Time management assists us to increase the productivity that we have in our homes. Let’s face it as stay at home moms, or working moms we can sometimes look back at our days and wonder what we actually got done! Work on getting your time organized and having a list that shows your accomplishments.
1. Hang the schedule where it will be used.
Binders, stovetop (my place), refrigerator, wall, or whatever spot is the most used by mom is a good place to place a daily schedule. Placing it in a spot that will be seen and checked as the day goes by is helpful. The schedule can be color coated by child or day, and it can be as fancy or plain as it is designed. Have fun with it, but use it!
2. The Schedule Is A Guide.
After the schedule is made watch your day and see if your tasks are easier to complete. Make sure that you took the time to schedule all of your tasks in a time slot, and don’t leave anything out. As time goes on, check to see if laundry works at 11:00 then make a note of it, ifand write down another time the may work for laundry. Use the schedule as a guide for your day, not the rule. If something happens to throw the schedule off, let it go and try again tomorrow!
3. Help Your Children Learn The Schedule
Make sure that each child has a place on the schedule. It will help with interruptions, and the day will run smoother. If the child is not of reading age, make pictures for what they should be doing. For example, my kindergartener recently started his morning routine at 8:30 am. He can’t read yet so I have pictures of for his activities during the day.
Learning how to master managing a house includes good time management. This is something that is acquired and learned along the way. Some people are born time managers while others’ like myself struggle with this part of home managment. Make scheduling fun by including fun parts in the day, or a big chunk of free time. It does have to be minute by minute or hour by hour, but a guide so that we can fulfill our jobs at home.
Discussion: Do you follow a schedule? Why or why not?
This post will be linked up to Modest Mom, We Are That Family, and Crystal and Company, A Life In Balance, Living Well Spending Less, Raising Mighty Arrows
I really like your recommendation to use the schedule as a guide. When I try to stick to a schedule too strictly, I can really get thrown off if something unexpected comes up! I think this flexibility is key.
Schedules are helpful, but I have to remind myself that what I see as an interruption God may see as a divine appointment!
I’d like to put together a loose schedule for my kids for the summer. It helps me plan my blogging time plus make sure we do the activities on our bucket list like going to the pool.
Thanks for sharing your tips at Fabulously Frugal Thursday!