In today’s episode, I share thoughts on 5 aspects of life to reflect on (other than planners!) as you head into the back-to-school season, whatever that means for you.
On the plus side: we found a number of the listed items in our home already!
I provide a detailed overview of Q4-related routines to think through / audit / consider tweaking, and then discusses sleep, communication strategies, mood management, and fun.
(old week from Feb – and you can see it still says 12/30-1/5 at the top! ignore that, apparently we did!)
Share your favorite planners for kids/teens or best communication strategies with me!! You can always email sarahhartunger at gmail or leave a comment here.
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9 Comments
Have you ever tried doing your board with wet erase markers? I feel like they write and clean quite a bit neater.
Ooh I need to try that! Our board is many years old and I def miss the crisp white!
Try Windex on your current board, gets it cleaner.
ooh I will! I’ve done nail polish remover and it helps some but man – that dry erase accumulation is stubborn!!
My best teen tip is one you probably don’t want to hear: GOOGLE CALENDAR! I set up a separate (color-coded) calendar for each kid, gave everyone access to everyone else’s, and then spent at least two years reinforcing the use of it.
“Is it on the google calendar?” was probably one of my most-used phrases in that parenting era. Want a ride to the debate tournament bus? It needs to be on the google calendar. Want anyone to come to your choir concert? It better be on the google calendar. Want to take the car to a sleepover? Check the google calendar to make sure there aren’t any conflicts (at one point we had 5 drivers sharing 2 cars!)
At the beginning of each semester, I would do a mass entry of every practice, event, etc. that came home, but then it was up to them to keep their own google calendar updated.
Paper works for my own planning day-to-day but it doesn’t work for visibility and giving other people ownership, which is necessary as kids get older. And all the effort seems to have paid off in terms of adulting – all four are proficient and prolific google calendar users to this day.
Oh I totally am fine with electronic! But with a 7 and 11 year old it doesn’t make sense for us yet. I do think I’ll still get a hearth or skylight display once everyone is electronic so it’s centrally visible in a physical way!
Agree that 7 and 11 are young – it really makes more sense once kids have their own devices – phone or watch – that they almost always have available, and are coordinating their own social events a little more. Once that happens for all three kids, you may find a centralized display less important.
Ooh, love your iron fist on enforcing it!! I wrote a post recently all about how exasperated I was with my teens NOT updating the google calendar this summer with their work schedules, plans etc (stuff that as they get older, doesn’t come home to the parents anymore!). I definitely think I sort of have “permitted” this, though, by not consistently making them do it. As they head back to school, I also want to implement a weekly family check in meeting to review it together and make sure everything is up to date!
Yes! The enforcement is totally necessary or it all falls apart. And it is a huge hassle to consistently enforce, but I felt like it was worth it to make our family run smoothly, but also to teach them a major life skill.