I Can Juggle!

 “There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.”  -Henry Kissinger

When I was a little girl, I thought I was an awesome juggler.  I would hold two balls in my small hands and throw one up in the air.  I would not throw the second ball until ball number one was securely back into my hand.  At no level did this resemble juggling at all but, in my young mind, I was sure Ed Sullivan was going to ask me to perform on his show!  Sometime later I learned that real jugglers practice and train to perfect their skill.  Hmmmm, those poor people had to work so hard and I was blessed with natural juggling talent! 

Several decades later I was embarking on a different type of juggling act.  I was going to try to balance my busy life of wife, mommy, and domestic engineer with taking care of my Mom.  ”No problem”, I thought.  “I can juggle”!  I am an extremely organized and detail-oriented person.  I just have to make sure to write everything down and this whole care-giving thing will run smoothly.  Oh brother, I was as naïve with this balancing act as I was with my young juggling act.  

Although technology makes scheduling so easy these days, it does not help to bridge the gap between my techno-savvy kids and my Mom who cannot fix the T.V. if it happens to get off the satellite control.  I have found that I really do have to rely on the plain-old Master Calendar! 

Think of it like this; when you go to a restaurant, everyone looks at the same information.  From that menu, each person can select the item that best fits their food desires.  The Master Calendar is much the same way.  I hang it in a central location, and each person can use it how they like.  My daughter copies the appointments onto her dry-erase type board.  My hubby can be found plugging the appointments into his Blackberry calendar.  Since too much information at one time is overwhelming to my mom, I use brightly colored post it notes to remind her of upcoming events.

Check out these tips for utilizing your Master Calendar:

• Display the calendar in a central place in your home.  Make sure it is visible and accessible for all of your family members.
• Educate your spouse, children and parent(s) on how to locate and read the commitments on the calendar. 
• Teach them the easiest method to update commitments.  For example, your preferences on using pen or pencil or a way to notify you that a new activity has been documented. 
• Make an appointment to update your master calendar weekly.  Gather all appointment cards, invitations, school notices that you have received during the week and transfer the information onto the calendar.
• Consider assigning different colors for each family member.  This gives you a visual assessment of activity load.
• Review the entire calendar regularly.  If you see little “white space” (the space where nothing is written), then it may be time to pare down a few activities.
• Check out the Busy Body Book site for a variety of family calendars.

Use a page protector (attached to the back of the calendar) to house paperwork to be documented on the calendar. When new notices, invitations, emails, schedules come into your home, simply file them in the protector until you are able to write the information on the calendar.

Whatever way you prefer to keep your agenda organized, make sure you are communicating changes and schedules to the entire family.  Good luck and Keep Your Sandwich Simple!