While routines have an important role in helping busy families stay organized, they are also an important educational tool for children.  Organization and time management are learned skills.  Maintaining a shared family calendar is an important tool for teaching these skills.  Having a shared community calendar that all family members can see, even young children, helps frame conversations about what’s happening in the future and how to be prepared for future activities.  This is an important part of teaching children about time management.  For young children this is a first step toward helping them think about activities in the context of time.  For an older child, a calendar helps teach planning.  For example, when a child can see that mom has a meeting on Tues. evening and they he knows he’ll need help with a school project that is due on Wed., he can adjust his work so that he can get help from mom on Mon.

What kind of calendar works best for families?  Unless an entire family is skilled enough to use a shared electronic calendar, a lower-tech approach is best.  Consider using a 2-week calendar that can be displayed in a high-traffic area.  Use a white board to draw a 2-week calendar with boxes large enough to accommodate the schedules for your family.  Draw the calendar in permanent marker and use dry erase markers to fill in dates and activities.  Assign each family member a unique color for filling in the calendar.  Find some time as part of an end of week or start of week routine to update the calendar and discuss upcoming events.

What strategies do you use to teach children time management and help your family manage expectations of other people’s time?