How to Time Manage Family Activities

Managing your time for your friends and family activities is the fun bit for me. It still requires time management skills to avoid disappointing your family and friends. By using tools such as a family calendar and family planner, you can ensure your moments together are enjoyable and stress free.

1. Keep a record of all birthdays and special family activities throughout the year so you can prepare in advance and not get behind. Knowing what events are coming each month means you can look out for gifts for those people as you do your shopping each week and you don’t have to make a special trip
2. Keep a record of your families sizes for clothing and shoes in your family planner so when you see something on sale you can get it and not make a special trip with the person it is for.
3. A good time management skill is to make things in bulk. Have a card making day and create cards for everyone’s birthday in that month or year. It will save time and money and will give opportunity for you and the kids to be creative.
4. Keep family and friends contact details up to date in your family planner so that when it is time to post of cards or give them a call it is easy to track them down.
5. Schedule family activities / appointments to doctors or dentists back-to-back so you only have to make one trip
6. Keep track of medical history for each family member and have handy with you when visiting the doctor. It will make his job a lot easier and help your doctor diagnose problems easier too. It also means you are prepared if someone is sick while you are away. The new doctor will have a good understanding of where your family is at very quickly. A family medical history form is part of your family planner.
7. Use the family calendar to plan each person’s activities and plans for the month. This is especially important as children grow up and have more activities they need to be a part of and need lifts for. The family calendar will help you keep your family from getting too busy or planning too many different things at once.
8. Use the family job / reward chart so everyone knows what jobs are expected of them around the house
9. Try to plan family activities that the whole family can do together rather than individual tasks everyone has to do separately. Firstly it will reduce the stress of running kids everywhere but it will also mean you have more time to enjoy together. For example, if one child is playing a sport on Saturday, choose to all be a part of that together. If one parent loves to go fishing of an afternoon, choose to all go together and take a picnic. It may involve making certain sacrifices that affect your immediate satisfaction but it will ensure you have a strong family unit that loves each other and learns from each other. You choose what you value more.

Return to TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS from FAMILY ACTIVITIES

Go to HOME PAGE