My Well-Being

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It is that time of year, school has started and schedules can get crazy pretty quickly for families with children and teens.   In my work with folks, I spend a great deal of time assisting them with tips on how to make things run more smoothly for everyone at home.  I would like to offer some quick suggestions that families I have worked with have found helpful for starting the academic year off right.

I believe one of the most important things to do is to have a “Family Calendar.”  Most of us have a daily planner or we use a cell phone or some other electronic device to manage our personal or work schedules, however, it can be extremely beneficial to have a centralized calendar that the whole family can list what they have going on and when.  This not only assists in teaching our children how to get organized but is also helps in keeping everyone’s schedules straight.  It gives your children a visual tool to recognize that you can’t be in two different places at the same time just because all of their friends have decided to go to the mall Saturday afternoon.  They can see that you will be taking their sibling to a soccer game at that time.  It gives you a reference and can avoid a lot of the “it’s not fair” arguments.  The family calendar works best if it is kept in a location that everyone will see it at some point in there day.   The bigger the family, the bigger the calendar needs to be.

I also recommend that you have family meetings, just as you would have at work.   This is a time when you talk about the family calendar and assist younger children with what they have going on.  While you will need to pick a time that works best for your family, I have found that the most productive time to do this is on Thursday evenings.  This allows the family to discuss what the plans are for the up coming weekend and week.  This also allows you to discuss ideas or creative ways to spend “family time” together that everyone can agree with.  I like to use this time to discuss any family issues, concerns or chore assignments.  These meetings do not need to last forever and after your family gets use to this process it can take less than 15 minutes of your time.

If you have any suggestions for getting organized that you have found work well for your family, please do not hesitate to post them.  What has worked for you may work for many others.

The information contained in the podcast and its outline does not substitute for medical or psychological treatment by a qualified healthcare provider.  If necessary, you should seek out advice from your doctor or other healthcare providers.

For more great content, click here to register for mywell-being.com.