Co-Parenting Tools for Separated Parents: OurFamilyWizard Calendar

Separated parenting situations are not easy to manage.  Many scheduling details end up getting lost in the shuffle when kids are moving between homes, making organization a key piece to managing your family’s schedule successfully.    The OurFamilyWizard Website offers a simple solution to this all-too-common issue: a shared family calendar to make it simple for parents to stay on track with their family’s hectic schedule.

The OurFamilyWizard Calendar provides tools specifically designed to help co-parents easily share scheduling details. Both parents work off the same calendar, so they stay on the same page in terms of what is on their child’s agenda.  For starters, parents can track their regular parenting schedule to record where their child will be spending each of their nights.   Parent’s custody time is displayed on the multi-colored bar above each calendar date, so parents can quickly glance and tell whose night it is to have their child.  No matter what type of scheduling pattern your family uses, your schedule only needs to be input one time and will repeat itself as far into the future as you need it to.

Whether your regular parenting schedule has frequent modifications made to it or remains the same most of the time, special adjustments often need to be made around holidays, like Christmas or Labor Day weekend.  These holiday adjustments are easy to note on your Calendar by using the holiday function.  Users will select which parent will be with their child for each of the common holidays listed in this tool, and the parenting schedule will be adjusted on each of those dates to reflect these special scheduling modifications.  If these common holidays don’t fit for your family or you celebrate other holidays not listed, parents can create custom holidays for any occasion like birthdays, family vacations, or long weekends.  Since holidays will override your regular parenting schedule only for the specific time frame they are assigned to, your schedule for every regular week will remain unchanged.

Holidays are not the only occasions when adjustments must be made to your parenting schedule.  Each parent may have their own events they need to attend, and at times, these may run into a conflict with the regular parenting schedule.  Often times, co-parents may feel some anxiety about asking their co-parent to switch a day or two of parenting time for fear of the request turning into a conflict.  Making modifications in parenting time is simple by using the schedule change request tool on the Calendar.  One parent may send the other parent a short request for a change in parenting time, and the other parent may respond to the request.  When responding, the offer may be accepted or rejected, or they may suggest a counter offer to trade a different night or two that may fit better with their schedule.  Requests are always kept short and straightforward, taking away some of the stress often found in this process.

Beyond your co-parenting time and holidays schedule, your child has their own schedule of weekly happenings for events like soccer practice, school plays or birthday parties.  Parents can stay on top of this schedule by posting events to the Calendar noting all the important details about each affair including the date, time, location, who is dropping your child off, who is picking your child up, etc.  If your child has an event that they attend routinely, you will be able to assign that event to reoccur on your Calendar each date it is to take place.  This eliminates the need to manually input individual entries for common weekly events, like piano lessons or Sunday school.

Staying organized in separated parenting situations is key so that everyone knows where your child is and where they need to be in the upcoming days.  The OurFamilyWizard Calendar is a great scheduling tool for any family needing to share this important information between two homes.  Also, take your schedule on the go with the OurFamilyWizard app so you can view your child's schedule at any time.