In a world where our lives are increasingly busy and fast-paced, maintaining a strong and harmonious family life can be challenging. It's essential to find ways to stay connected and involved with our loved ones amidst our busy schedules. One powerful tool that has helped me achieve this is adding my husband to all of our family calendar events. This includes everything from doctor appointment to sports to school dress up days (and anything in-between). Any type of mental burden I carry to take care of the kids I have started making a calendar event for it and share it with him. In this blog post, I'll share the reasons why I started this practice and how it has improved our family life.
As a mother, I often found myself juggling numerous family tasks, appointments, school activities, sports schedules, and birthday parties while trying to maintain a demanding professional career and strike a healthy work-life balance. To alleviate the overwhelming feeling, I took the step of adding all these commitments to my digital calendar and began sharing it with my husband. My intention was not to simply show him how much I was handling but to provide a platform for him to actively participate and offer assistance, which he was more than willing to do. This shift has proven to be a game-changer in our family's organization and support for one another when it came to managing family events.
The Benefits of Managing Family Events Together
Enhancing Communication
One of the primary reasons for adding my husband to our family calendar events was to enhance communication. When we both have access to our shared calendar, it becomes much easier to coordinate our schedules. This minimizes the risk of double-booking or missing important family events, making our lives more organized and less stressful.
Promoting Equal Involvement
Equality in a partnership is crucial. By including my husband in all of our family calendar events, we make sure that both of us are equally aware of and involved in our family's activities and responsibilities. This practice reinforces the idea that parenting, and household duties are a shared responsibility, fostering a sense of teamwork and unity.
Preventing Misunderstandings
Misunderstandings can easily arise when one partner is unaware of important family events or commitments. Adding my husband to our family calendar has significantly reduced these misunderstandings. We no longer have to rely solely on verbal communication, which can be prone to misinterpretation or forgetfulness. Another example is if I have a PTO meeting. I will add it to the calendar, so he knows he needs to leave work earlier that day, so I can make it to my meeting on him. Instead of me remembering to ask him to leave. He can also plan his workday better knowing he needs to leave early.
Streamlining Co-Parenting
If you're a parent, you understand the importance of seamless co-parenting. By having a shared calendar, my husband and I can coordinate our parenting responsibilities more effectively. We can plan activities, playdates, and school events in advance, ensuring that our children receive the best care and support from both of us. This also made it easier to know how to jump in and help. For example, he can see we are at Girl Scouts at 4 every other Thursday, so he will call on his was home to see if he needs to pick up our son or head straight home to start on dinner.
Balancing Work and Family Life
Maintaining a balance between work and family life is a constant struggle for many couples. A shared family calendar helps us keep track of work-related commitments and family events, making it easier to plan quality family time without neglecting our professional responsibilities.
Encouraging Active Participation
Adding my husband to our family calendar has encouraged him to actively participate in family planning and decision-making. It empowers him to contribute his input and ideas, creating a sense of shared responsibility and partnership in all aspects of family life. Instead of always asking what we have going on he can see it and jump in and help. We are managing family events together.
In a world where our lives are busier than ever, finding effective ways to connect and maintain a strong family bond is essential. Adding my husband to all our family calendar events has proven to be a game-changer for us. It has improved communication, promoted equality, and reduced misunderstandings, ultimately strengthening our relationship and family life. If you haven't already, I highly recommend giving this practice a try – you might be surprised by the positive impact it can have on your family.
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