Using Online Shared Calendars to Organize a Coparenting Schedule

Coparenting across two homes can be complicated for a number of reasons. One challenge that coparents must overcome is to maintain a common schedule for their kids. Parenting time schedules, school activities, extracurricular events, family dinners, birthday parties, and play dates are only some of the things that parents must keep track of within their shared schedule. Right away, it might sound like a lot to handle, but many coparents are able to sustain a busy shared schedule. They are often able to accomplish this more easily when they employ the help of a few scheduling strategies. Online shared calendars, concise documentation and thorough planning are all things that coparents can do to make managing a busy shared schedule feel much less complicated.

Coparenting schedules are often full of details more than just about who is taking care of the kids on what day. The best shared calendars are filled with all the information parents need to keep up with their family schedule. Using online shared calendars is a convenient and efficient way to manage this kind of information. Online shared calendars allow coparents to be looking at the same schedule without having to be in the same place at the same time. This is a huge upgrade from the separate paper calendars and shared notebooks that were the only options for coparents in years past. Working online, a parent can review and add details to their shared calendars, and have their updates ready to be viewed by the other parent immediately. The flexibility offered by online shared calendars allows coparents to more easily communicate about potential changes or conflicts in the schedule, and act on them in real time. This helps to avoid mishaps or conflicts due to confusion over what was on the schedule. Also, online shared calendars can go with parents virtually anywhere. With mobile calendaring apps and print-ready options, parents can take their calendar from home to the office, to the store, and to everywhere else they may go. 

Shared online calendaring helps parents stay connected, but an important factor in staying connected is having adequate documentation. Concise documentation is a key element to maintaining a schedule well. Having all of the details regarding the parenting schedule, events and everything else that is upcoming helps coparents to know just what to expect. This is huge in helping to avoid potential disputes over problems with the schedule. It also helps to avoid conflicts over a lack of information. Many online shared calendars allow parents to add lots of details to the various events posted to include information like who will be attending what to bring, and who will be taking the kids to and from the event. Keeping this information all within the calendar itself makes it so that coparents do not have to dig through emails or constantly be texting each other to be reminded of those small but important details. In turn, this helps to smooth things out for the kids. When parents are prepared, kids will also be more ready to take on what's on their schedule.

While online shared calendars and documentation are two parts to the foundation of a well maintained schedule, planning often comes first. Planning ahead is something that all coparents should do in order to make the schedule easier for the whole family to handle. There are several items that need to get planned out, usually beginning with the parenting schedule. When parenting time is shared, coparents will want to know when the kids will be with each of them. Some parenting schedules run off of a set pattern of days, but other parenting schedules call for time to be split in inconsistent ways. Whichever way it may be, get this schedule on the calendar well ahead of time. Holiday and vacation time is another part of the parenting schedule that needs to be worked out, which is also important to put on the calendar. Coparents who think about these things in the long term have the advantage of knowing what their schedule will be and, therefore, can plan for things to do with the kids during their time. Next, coparents need think about what's happening with just the kids in terms of school, extracurriculars, or with friends. While new events for the kids will arise from time to time, parents should get down what they can on the calendar now. This will give both parents an idea as to where there may be free time in the schedule for other events that might come up later on.

When one family is working to maintain a schedule between two homes, having the right information at the right time is key. Online shared calendars are a coparent's best friend when it comes to knowing the schedule. On top of calendars, concise documentation helps to ensure that no one is left in the dark about the details of the schedule, and thorough planning offers the opportunity for coparents to look beyond the present and think about what's coming ahead in the long term. All of these things help to make sharing a busy schedule much easier.