Do you find it difficult to coordinate and run your family household schedule?
Are you overbooked? Mama has work, yoga training, girls’ night out/breakfast. Jefe has dodgeball, kickball, Books & Bars, music, movies, a voracious social appetite after being with the kids all day. Pablo has school, after school Spanish, choir, swim lessons, soccer and homework. Doodles has pre-school, playdates, swim lessons and his Youtube addiction. How do we fit it all in?
Schedule it on the Google Calendar. Request a date. Request night out with the guys, etc. Mama and I have to determine whether each event is for the whole family, for the two of us, for one of us, for the boys, for one boy. Then we decide which ones require a sitter and have to factor their availability into the equation. Which is why my standard response to most event invites starts at “maybe”. Have you noticed that Facebook has become a sort of glorified events calendar? It seems many of the options begin here.
Are you a social beast who craves company? Or do you recharge from downtime and quiet reflection/solitude? This is where Mama and I differ a bit.
It’s not easy but it works for usually works for us. It takes a village to raise the children and a powerful computer network to keep us all on track. We access our calendars on-line and on iPhone and keep a paper copy on the refrigerator.
At times I want to add “Be Spontaneous” as an event. This schedule allows me my precious 6 hours a week to myself during the week. But during this time I must also grocery shop, do other household things and try to work on writing and Books & Bars.
Perhaps we are overbooked at times. We seem to be doing okay socially for parents. Living in the city helps. Having family in town to babysit is key. Keeping our outside passions and interests alive helps with our general well being. Tonight is a date night involving dinner and a play, August: Osage County.
How do you manage your time or the family time? Are you feeding your social beast?
