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Time management for parents
MIkael Lindberg | Oct 10 2007
The excellent news that Merlin is joining the parent flock prompted me to write this post. I became a parent about a year ago and I've been battling the "loss" of about 8-16 hours of every day to parenting and the unpredictability element that babies bring to your schedule. I'm interested in hearing what other parents have done in order to keep a grip on their schedule and their lives. For me, the most extreme effect was that I decided to change jobs in order to do something I really like, despite having to take a 50% pay cut. I just can't afford to waste hours doing things that doesn't make me happy. I've also taken a few hints from Merlin and now carry a small note pad (sort of a hipster PDA) in my pocket at all times for capture purposes. I think my previous attempts at GTD has failed just because I havn't needed it enough. Now, I can't survive without it. As for handling the unpredictability element of children, my wife and I have a system where we try to never replan the current day schedule but instead handle exceptions as far into the future as possible. This keeps our schedules reasonably stable. What are your experiences? 58 Comments
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 ScheduleSubmitted by Xrism on October 10, 2007 - 9:55pm.
I am the proud father of three wonderful kids aged 14, 10 and 4. The very best piece of advice we received when expecting our fist child was, talk to the parents of kids you would most want your kids to be like and find out what they did. As soon as that person said that to me, I asked her what she did as a parent with her kids. One word - schedule. Infants are not all the same, but all of them can be put on some sort of schedule. It does put some limitations on the activities you can do, especially in the evenings, but you didn't think becoming a parent would allow you to keep your active social life, did you? Find what schedule works best for your child and stick to it. The other thing she told us was to establish boundaries with consequences for their exerting their will (when old enough) against yours in crossing those boundaries. The consequences should be consistent...every single time they exert their will against yours. Consequences should never be handed down in anger. If you do it the first time all the time, you should never be angry. Parents get angry when they have to say, "how many times have I told you!" You should only have to tell your children one time. My wife and I tried to apply these seemingly simple principles with each of our children. We experienced exactly what she said; namely, after our children were 5 or 6, we rarely have to enforce those consequences on our children any more. They just do what is expected. Children will always try to live up to your expectations of them. Don't short change your kids. Set the bar high and encourage them and love them to meet or exceed those expectations. It worked for us...so far. YMMV. » POSTED IN:
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