5 Tips to Manage an Ever-Changing Family Schedule

Creating a family routine and schedule to follow can be challenging for a couple in the best of times. Throw a couple of very young children into the mix, along with working from home, and it feels next to impossible. Do you have children? If you have lived through the baby stage, you know that it’s difficult to create a firm schedule when you have babies. Just when you think you have a schedule in place to follow, the baby regresses and starts waking up again at night. If you also have an older child, they are probably used to a daily routine. Incorporating the ever-changing schedule of a baby while maintaining the older child’s daily routine and taking care of a home all while working from home may feel like an overwhelming task.

My son and his wife are currently in this very situation. They have a 10-week-old son, a 3 ½ year old daughter, and they both work full time from home. Their little girl gets up at the same time most mornings, but their son sometimes gets up multiple times during the night. If you have children, I’m sure you’re not surprised.

As a professional organizer, parent, and grandparent I am well aware of the challenges facing families. Every stage of your child’s development presents new opportunities for a change in the schedule.

When you have a new baby chaos can follow for that is one of those life events which throws all sense of routine out the window. How do you meet both your children’s needs, maintain order in the house and your relationship with your spouse? This is a question many people ask.

Here are my 5 tips to help you cope as you deal with your family’s ever-changing schedule.

Maintain habits and routines that work and be willing to be flexible.

Maintain your routines and habits as much as possible. This will help you to keep order in your home. When you are in the habit of picking up and putting things away when you are finished using them it takes very little time to restore order to a room.

Delegate age-appropriate tasks to your older children. They can make their bed, pick up their toys, empty the dishwasher, take out the trash, help with laundry, as well as a variety or other tasks. Involving your children in the care and up-keep of your home encourages them to take ownership of their space, teaches responsibility, and takes pressure off the parents.

In the not-too-distant past every member of the family worked together to care for the home and the property. Everyone took pride in doing their part and doing it well. Give your older child the opportunity to learn age-appropriate routine maintenance skills to encourage this feeling.

Another benefit to delegating tasks to every member of the family is that it helps to maintain a schedule.

If your goal is to get out the door to go to school at a certain time because you have a meeting and you know you want to feed your infant before the meeting starts it is more realistic if everyone pitches in and does routine tasks.

Use the Organize Your Home 10 Minutes at a Time deck of cards to guide you in maintaining different areas of your home.

Accept Good Enough

Many people think that if you are going to do something it’s best to do it perfectly or not at all. I submit that doing something to the best of your ability at any given time is better than doing nothing at all.

Allow your older child to make their bed to the best of their ability and praise them for their effort. It may not be exactly the way you want it. Accept the way it is and do NOT fix it. Fixing the bed send the message to the child that their effort was not good enough.

Since you know your scheduling is changing and will continue to change until your infant reaches the stage when you can follow a defined schedule allow some tasks and chores to slide.

Ask yourself which part of your daily schedule is most important to maintain and focus on that.

Create Boundaries

You are probably working from home, like many families. Be fully at work when you are working, even though you are at home. Create a mental boundary and don’t let home related thoughts intrude on your work time.

I know that is difficult to do. Sometimes it may be impossible. The more you can be mindfully present in your work and honestly focus on the task at hand the more you will accomplish and in less time.

Schedule Breaks

If you were working in the office, there would be times when you would get up from your desk, stretch your legs, and perhaps have a casual conversation with a colleague.

It’s still important to get up periodically from wherever you are working in the house and take a break.

If you have young children at home this is a time when you can swap with your spouse and take over childcare while they do something else.

With both of you working from home you may need to look over your schedules every night.

Talk about when you have meetings. Be upfront about how much prep time you need before each meeting and discuss any wrap up time you need. Create your schedule for the next day and assign work time, childcare time, and you time for both you and your partner/spouse.

Yes. I said ‘you’ time. You can’t care for others if you haven’t cared for yourself first. Make time in your daily schedule for a little alone time every day. Depending on the day, it can be something short like a 10-minute walk around the block. Just do something that allows you to refresh and recharge your personal battery.

Do Fun Activities Together

Build one or more fun family activities into each week. Explore different parts of the place you live. Take long walks. My son and his family have been finding different playgrounds, coffee shops, and doughnut shops where they live. They are active and love to exercise outside so going on long walks and admiring the spring blooms is a fun family activity for them. Stopping for coffee and doughnuts is an added perk for almost every member of their family.

Find what works for your family and make a habit of scheduling something to look forward to each week. It can be a special meal that you make together or an outing to a favorite playground. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as it is something everyone in your family will enjoy.

In Conclusion

It is easy to let chaos reign when a life event happens. Use these 5 tips to guide you as you manage your busy family’s schedule.

· Follow the structure of habits and routines that have worked for you in the past but be flexible.

· Remember to accept good enough.

· Create boundaries between your work and your home life even though they are both happening at home.

· Schedule breaks during the day

· Plan fun activities

If you would like some additional personalized guidance, consider signing up for the Clear Space for You online clutter support group Diane moderates with Jonda Beattie.

Diane N. Quintana is a Certified Professional Organizer® ,a Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization®, Master Trainer and owner of DNQ Solutions, LLC and co-owner of Release●Repurpose●Reorganize, LLC based in Atlanta, Georgia. She specializes in residential and home-office organizing and in working with people affected by ADD, Hoarding, and chronic disorganization. Diane and Jonda Beattie are the best-selling authors of: Filled Up and Overflowing.