6 Best Time Management Advice for Busy Parents

Being a parent is not an easy task. 

You need to balance work with picking up the kids from school and preparing meals while teaching your children important values for life. You may also often feel that 24 hours isn’t enough for you to finish all the things you have to do.

While it’s impossible to increase the number of hours in a day, you can get better at how you spend them. Allotting the proper amount of time for each task will allow you to attend to other things and open up more time for your family and self-care. To get you started, here are some useful time management tips you can apply for your day-to-day scheduling.

Set Priorities

The key to productive time management is knowing what your priorities are. Take the time to reassess your values and set your goals. Ask yourself: What is important to you? What do you want for your family? What do you want for yourself? Asking these questions will help you determine which tasks and opportunities to focus on and those you can put on hold for a later time. 

For example, religious families value activities that align with their faith, so these types of activities are a priority. Case in point, Christians set aside their Sundays for church activities, and Muslims have daily prayers, which apps like Muslim Pro can help them stick to regularly.

Keep a Personal and Family Calendar

The calendar, digital or otherwise, is every busy person’s best friend. Make sure to jot down any new appointments, to-dos, and other events on it, so you can keep track of them properly and prepare for them accordingly.

However, every family should consider having a family calendar as well. Put it up in a place in the house where everybody meets, such as the entrance or the dining room. Ask your family members to write down any important events or activities, which you can also discuss each evening as you prepare for the next day. It will keep your family up to speed on what everyone is up to and also help you find time to be together.

Learn to Say “No”

Opportunities come and go all the time. You may be invited to join a local book club, the homeowner’s association board, or a volunteering organization. It’s tempting to say “yes” to everything, but remember: saying “yes” to one thing means saying “no” to another. Taking too many activities not only takes away from family time, but it can also spread you out too thin if you’re not careful.

This trap applies to your children as well. If you sign them up for too many classes—piano, karate, swimming, etc.—they spend less time on other things that may be more important for them, like family dinner or game nights. Additionally, whatever commitment they have is also another responsibility for you, such as driving them back and forth or paying for class fees. 

Share the Household Chores

No matter what stage people are in life, household chores are inevitable. It takes a lot of work to keep living spaces clean and organized, so it’s only right that all household members contribute to the work. This also includes your kids.

Teaching your children about chores from an early age not only alleviates your work but also sets them up to become responsible adults. When everybody chips in, work is done faster, opening up more time for the family to relax and bond together.

To accomplish this more effectively, set up a chore chart at home and put it up on the refrigerator. It will serve as a reference point for everybody at home and save you from having to remind everyone what their responsibilities are.

Create a Routine

In a busy household, a well-established routine is a must. It helps you accomplish multiple things:

● It sets up a daily schedule that kids can easily follow.

● It allows you to finish things without thinking about it too much, saving on brainpower.

● It helps you execute tasks more efficiently because you do them every day.

Setting up a routine that works for everyone can be tricky at first. It takes a process of trial and error to find a schedule that works for everybody. Once it’s set up though, you can feel more at ease every day and focus your energy on accomplishing other things.

Outsource Some of Your Responsibilities

If there’s simply no time to finish certain tasks, you can always pay for somebody else to do it, and it doesn’t have to be costly. After all, there’s an app for everything nowadays. For example, if you’re too tired to cook dinner on some days, buy some easy-to-cook meals or get a takeout before heading home. Aside from preparing dinner, tasks such as cleaning the car or even grocery shopping can be delegated to others, saving you time and effort.  

Overall, time management is tough, but parents can make it easier with the right mindset, tools, and help. Take advantage of all the devices and tools available to you, whether it’s a physical calendar or a digital tool like the Muslim Pro app. By doing so, you can allot more time for your kids, family gatherings, and all the other things in life that matter to you the most.