Again and again we talk here in the Single Parent’s blog about how important time management is to the function of a single parent family. Many of us pride ourselves on being able to juggle multiple tasks and keep all sorts of balls in the air. Our concept of time, however, may not be meshing with our family’s needs. If your child is balking at certain times of the day, or you are having power struggles or a hard time fitting in the things that you really want to do together, it might be time to consider restructuring your time management in order to make it more user-friendly.
A good example is mealtime–if your child gets really hungry right after school or in the early evening and you are trying to make everyone wait until 7pm or later for dinner–you may be getting a lot of crying, arguing, and whining. Why not move dinner time up to meet the needs of the child? Also, you might be cramming in too many errands and activities right after work or school and either you or the child really wants to just get home and relax. Perhaps it is time to find a different time to do those errands (weekends, lunch hour) or to let some of those activities go in order to have a more pleasant evening together.
Remember that time management does NOT mean that we cram as many activities and responsibilities into a 24-hour period as we can. That can be crazy-making and put a lot of unnecessary stress on our families. Instead, figure out what needs to be done, and what you WANT to have happen, and take into consideration the temperament and needs of your child and you may need to restructure things to come up with a more functional, compatible time management system.
Also: The Role of Timing
Slow Down, Are You Moving Too Fast?