Time Management | VIVIAN KIRKFIELD – Writer for Children

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“Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.” – Robert Fulghum

We all need balance in our lives. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy – this old saying definitely holds true today.

But what is balance?

The dictionary defines balance as harmony, a state in which nothing is out of proportion or unduly emphasized at the expense of the rest.

There is no standard “one size fits all” spreadsheet for balance because we are all unique individuals with different needs and different situations. However, to optimize the quality of our lives, we can take a look at how we spend our days (and nights). Are you working too many hours? Do you tend to let certain activities slide due to lack of time? How much TV is watched in your home? Please don’t get me wrong…I enjoy watching TV…but I also realize that if we don’t put the TV on in the evening, I get so much done. And when I look at my watch, it is only 9PM. But I do have to admit that my time spent on the computer these days often occupies an unbalanced proportion of my day…so much so that it becomes the wee hours of the morning when I finally feel I am done. SO NOT GOOD! This weekend I plan to sit down to evaluate how I am utilizing that time and hopefully I can produce a more BALANCED schedule that will be better for me AND my family.

I guess we can go back to the dictionary definition of balance: a state in which nothing is out of proportion or unduly emphasized at the expense of the rest. So, if your family enjoys watching a show on TV, that is great…but perhaps when the show is over, you can participate in other activities…maybe a read-aloud story-time. If there are older children, perhaps they can take turns with the adults reading to the younger children, although studies show that older children really enjoy being read to. Or maybe have a family board game night?

According to Catherine Pulsifer in “We Never Seem to Have Enough Time”,

“We need to maintain a proper balance in our life by allocating the time we have.”

So here are a few simple ways to keep track of how you are allocating your time.

1. Use a notebook to list your long-term and short-term goals.

2. Make a to-do list each night for the next day…you will sleep better each night and you won’t realize late in the next day that you’ve forgotten to do something important. For me, writing down what I need to do gives me peace of mind.

3. Set up a daily routine or schedule, especially if you have children. Life can get really chaotic if you don’t have a plan in place.

Do you have a daily routine or schedule in place? Stop by tomorrow for a look at the successful routine I used with my daycare group and my own family when my children were small.

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Mary glanced at the clock and felt her heart start racing…the doctor’s appointment was in 15 minutes and the doctor’s office was 10 minutes away. The breakfast she had set out on the table was still uneaten and her 4-year old son was running around upstairs, searching for a missing shoe. Hurrying up the stairs, she shouted, “We are going to be late because of you!”

Are you shaking your head up and down because you recognize this scenario? I can replay in my mind several similar episodes that occurred when my children were young. Anyone who says that keeping a family running smoothly (and on time) has obviously not been a parent.

But, there are solutions to this problem! Lack of planning and organization are the root causes…there is a saying that if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. If you sometimes (or often) find yourself searching for that missing shoe or you would like to put in place a few simple routines for the New Year that will help de-stress your life, perhaps the following simple suggestions will help.

Put a calendar near the phone for logging in appointments and other important dates and times. You can even set up a calendar for your child to keep in his room (free ones are usually available at pharmacies and other stores at this time of year). He will enjoy marking his own calendar with his own very important dates (his birthday, his friends’ birthdays, special outings, etc.).
Before going to bed (maybe as part of his special bed-time ritual), help your child choose his clothes for the next day (or let him choose his own…just make sure that if it is winter, you have put the bathing suits away). In addition, check the calendar to see what is scheduled for the next day and get ready any other items needed (i.e. library books that are due at the library).
Attach a short clothesline (about 12 inches long and equipped with clothespins) or a store-bought or homemade rack with hooks or pegs on a wall near your exit door (front, back or side, wherever the family goes in and out) and have your child hang up his gloves, hat, scarf, etc. when he comes in. If the items are damp, they will dry out much better this way than if left in coat pockets or stuffed in a book bag. In addition, they will be ready at a moment’s notice when your child needs them and you will immediately be aware if one of the mittens or gloves is missing.
Hang a key rack in a convenient place so that all family members who have keys (house, car, etc.) will automatically hang them up when they come in. This will save many precious minutes (or hours) of time because no one will have to look for the keys when it is time to go out. I can’t tell you how many times we searched our home looking for a set of keys that turned up to be “hiding” under a pile of papers on the dining room table. How stressful….and what a waste of precious time!
Try to avoid the pitfall of too much activity…although it is important for our children to be offered many different types of activities (karate class, dance class, nursery school, etc.), one-on-one quality time with YOU is the most important, whether it is reading a story or participating in a craft project or cooking activity or just sitting together watching cloud formations roll by.