How to create and use a shared family schedule

Whether you use a paper calendar, an erasable or a digital calendar, your whole family will be able to quickly see what is happening every single day. No matter which format you use, you are sure to find something that fits YOU!

First, let’s start things out old-school style:

Paper calendars

If you love the idea of a paper calendar, there are as many different types of calendars as you can imagine. Whether your family likes looking at vistas from national parks, cuddly kittens or space ships from your favorite sci-fi films, you are sure to find something to fit your unique style. These paper calendars can be found in book stores, discount stores and you can even find printable calendar templates online.

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Whiteboards

Is an erasable whiteboard where everyone can make their mark more your style? There are lots of different ones to choose from, with sizes ranging from wall-hanging, to refrigerator-magnet size (good luck fitting anything on there!). Find a size and layout that is the right fit for all of your activities and hang it in the kitchen or in another well-traveled place like a mudroom or laundry space—where everyone can see it.

Don’t feel you are stuck with a giant white space either. There are styles that already have calendar squares marked, so all you need to do is add the dates and events each month. Then, when the new month rolls around, you can simply wipe the slate clean and start over again.

Shared digital family calendars

Now, it’s time to move back to the future with a shared digital family calendar, which lets everyone in the family see what everyone else is doing at a glance. Even better—it can travel wherever you and your devices travel—so it can be updated on the fly.

Here’s how to create an online family schedule that can make your life a lot easier:

1. Find an app that works for you.

Going digital is an easy decision—portable, updateable and shareable—even kids can use a digital family schedule (probably even better than adults.)

A quick check of the app stores for both iPhone and Android shows there are hundreds of different apps you can use. The key to creating a family schedule that everyone will use is finding the one that fits you and your lifestyle best. You can then download one to every family member’s mobile device.

One family member will need to be the “owner” of the calendar who will then invite the rest of the family to edit. Now everyone’s on the same page, literally.

Having Tyrone’s soccer game, Myra’s piano lesson, mom’s work trip or dad’s haircut all listed for everyone to see means no more over-booking or double-booking appointments. A quick glance at the family schedule allows everyone to easily see that 4 p.m. isn’t a good time for a haircut (Tyrone’s piano lesson time) but that 3 p.m. works better. With easily viewable schedules, every family can manage their life better.

2. Learn how to make a family schedule.

Once you decide on the right format for you, the next step is probably the most time consuming. That’s right! To create a family schedule, you’ll need to enter in all of those dates you already know exist—haircuts, dentist appointments, soccer practices, etc.—but the good news is: You really only have to do it once.

Here are some tips to make this part easier:

 

• Color code everyone: When you color code each member of the family, it’s easy to see what everyone is doing at any time quickly. For instance, mom might be blue, dad red, Myra is purple, and Tyrone is green. At a glance, any member of the family can see that Thursday night is busy or that everyone is free on Monday.
• Get in the habit of updating immediately: There’s nothing worse than leaving the doctor’s office and forgetting if you made your next appointment for 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. Or was it 9:30 a.m. on the 10^th? Adding appointments to the calendar right way means you can set it and forget it.
• Set alarms: Take that next step and setup reminder alarms for all of your appointments. This ensure that you get emails or text message alerting you to an upcoming appointment. Take it a step further and make the alert event specific like “Dad to pick up Tyrone from piano” so everyone knows who is responsible. These alarms can remind you of an event minutes to weeks before it happens. You can personalize it to what works for you.
• Set recurring events: If soccer practice is every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. you can create a recurring task in the calendar so you only have to add it once. For instance, if you are using an app like Microsoft Outlook, click New Appointment. When the new appointment tab opens, after selecting the first day and time of the event, you’ll have the option to click “Make Recurring,” found in the lower right below the title and next to the day and time. This will open an Appointment Recurrence page. From there, you can select the days and times the appointment happens and an end date. This eliminates having to enter each and every upcoming occurrence. What a time saver!
• Reassign tasks: Having a family schedule also allows you to reassign a task or event to another family member. Let’s say Great Aunt Millie is flying to town to visit next week and mom planned to pick her up. But mom needs to stay late at work. She can reassign the pickup event to dad and he’ll be notified. If Great Aunt Millie is included in the family calendar, she knows to look for him at the airport.

 

3. Teach children responsibility.

Yes, we all want our kids to grow up as responsible adults. Here’s an easy way to do it: Allow your children access to the calendar so they can add events, too. If Tyrone wants to go to a sleepover party at Jimmy’s house, he can look at the family schedule to make sure nothing was planned for Saturday when Great Aunt Millie is in town. He knows he can now add “Sleepover at Jimmy’s” to the calendar himself.

It allows him to take a more active role in family life, creating a sense of accomplishment and empowerment.

One way to make sure your child knows about family events is to make sure you have the ability to make changes to their calendar as an owner or admin. Your child can add items to the calendar as they wish, but you can also see what’s there, as well as remind them of family events.

4. Keep some appointments private.

While having your children take an active role in the family schedule is a valuable lesson, some calendar items are better kept private. With many family schedule apps, you can mark events private so only the person who entered the information can view them.

5. Track important events.

Beyond marking the next doctor’s appointment or soccer practice, a family schedule can also be used to help countdown the days to the next vacation, for example, or a wedding or holiday celebration. Everyone can see quickly that the event is just a few days, weeks or months away.

In addition, some calendar apps include information on things like when the next full moon takes place, or national and international holidays.

6. Merge school, sports, work calendars and more.

If your school district, club or other organization has a calendar, some applications allow you to import or subscribe to that calendar—which moves it directly into your family schedule. This means you can see updated PTA meetings, game schedules, early dismissal days, statewide testing dates and more in one place.

7. Maintain the calendar

The calendar doesn’t work in a vacuum. Your family will need to input information when they have an appointment or event. Equally important is for every member to check the calendar at least once at the beginning of the day or—better yet—make a habit of also checking after dinner. This is important if your schedule changes often. Regularly checking your calendar, like checking your email or social media feeds, can keep you informed of any changes or additions to the family schedule.

Just as every family is different, every calendar will be different, too. So, the only wrong choice is creating a family schedule that doesn’t work for you. Try a few out to find a good fit and—pretty soon—your family schedule will be the go-to place for your on-the-go household!