This is a collaborative post.
Running a family requires excellent organisational skills, plenty of patience, an ability to multitask and all sorts of other attributes that aren’t always in the job description but definitely come with the territory of having kids.
Here are some pointers and savvy tips to help you manage the day successfully and get everything done and the kids to where they need to be all in a day’s work.
There’s a look at why it pays to concentrate on simplifying the task of planning your schedule, a sensible strategy for making mornings less stressful, plus a tip for checking what the day ahead is offering so that you can dress everyone accordingly.
One system is the key to organizational success
Running a family home is not very different to being a PA except that you are not helping a busy executive to run their business and you aren’t getting the same financial rewards!
However, you can’t let that get in the way of doing the one job you have the perfect resume for and wouldn’t swap for anything else anyway. So now that it’s established you have all the credentials your first task is to get super-organised and get all the play dates and appointments scheduled and sorted.
If there is one tip to remember above anything else it would be to pick just one system for all your planning needs and keep it simple by then recording all those events and activities in one calendar.
Having the information spread across different diaries, reminders on your smartphone and written on a calendar in the kitchen, is going to make organizing your family schedule harder than it needs to be.
Find a system that works for you and record everything that is going on each week in the one place, as that is definitely the key to organisational success.
Avoid the blame game scenario
If you are taking on everything by yourself then this isn’t an issue but if you are dividing up the chores and assignments between you and your partner, grandparents or anyone else you rely on to help with childcare duties, you need to ensure you assign responsibility for each task.
Knowing that you have to get them there for baseball at four is only the half of it, who is taking them and picking them up is the other key piece of information, so make sure you have that detail incorporated into your system.
That way you will avoid the almost inevitable conversation where one person blames the other for any mess up.
Beat the morning rush
Mornings in a typical family home with young kids is often complete chaos and that means it’s easy to get behind or miss something when you are under such strain to beat the deadline for getting them into the car and off to school.
A savvy way of coping better with that hectic morning scenario would be to prep the night before and get everything ready to go that you can, like clothes laid out and lunches done and in the fridge.
An Android app for current weather on your smartphone would also be a good idea as you can get advanced notice on whether you should plan for rain or pack the sunscreen.
Good communication, a simple but effective organisational system, plus a solid weekly routine that everyone is in tune with, will all help you to be that Mum who always seems to cope with whatever comes their way.
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