6 Ideas On Creating A Cool Family Event Calendar
When living in a household where everyone needs to be at a different place at the same time, things can get hectic. It might get so hectic that while you’re taking your 4th grader to dance practice, your teenager has Football Practice, but you don’t know why they didn’t come home from school. Things like that can be avoided with a family calendar.
Looking at the idea of a Family Event Calendar, or a “Command Center,” here are some of the best suggestions as to how to build one and keep it maintained.
Make It Erasable
For those of you who write things down and then need to reschedule them, be sure to make sure that your event calendar is erasable. My suggestions are a Dry Erase Calendar that you write the numbers in for every month, or a chalkboard version of the same thing. That way, if you need to move the event in question, it’s done without scribbling.
Put It In A Location Where Everyone Accesses Daily
If you’re putting the calendar in the office, and your teenager never goes in there, then do you really think they’ll fill in what days they have practice without nagging first? No, the best idea is to put your calendar in a central area that everyone uses, like the kitchen or the living room/den area. That way they are constantly passing the calendar and it is also a convenient reminder without nagging.
Color Code It
With mine at home, I have noted bills with a green marker, work with a red marker, and blue for fun things. I use black for the titles and numbers. This way, if you see something that’s green or blue, you’ll know it’s important to take a closer look at that date. Or, if you’ve got a lot of individuals to look after, consider getting colors for each person, and color code it based on them, rather than the activity.
Make It Your “Command Center”
If you are trying to organize your whole family, make sure that you add other things to it besides the calendar. There could be a shelving unit to put bills in “to be paid,” clipboards with chores lists for the kids, a corkboard to pin invitations to school plays or permission slips that need signing, and even a menu (if you’re thinking that far ahead for dinner).
Look Ahead
Somewhere on your calendar, or on a secondary board, put the things that you have coming up the following month. Meaning things like “X and X’s Wedding,” or “School Picture Day,” that way you can foresee them coming and plan ahead, rather than going to write your board up for the new month and thinking “OH NO THIS IS THIS CLOSE?!”
Make It Easy To Fill In
Find a way to mount your writing utensils onto the wall where your calendar is, or make sure to have a table directly underneath it, that way you’re not off searching for markers getting distracted.
These tips work, so try it out!
Amy Cooper has been through a lot of school in the last 28 years, so she knows a thing or two about the education system.
