Time Management Tips for Busy Parents

If you’re reading this, you probably already know that parenting is time consuming and all encompassing. You need help with time management so that you can make sure everything (and everyone) in your busy life gets the attention they deserve. We’re here to provide some time management tips for busy parents like you and try to take a little bit of stress out of your life. 

Balance is important, and you need to take care of yourself, just like you take care of your kids. However, it can be difficult to strike the balance you need when you’re not sure what time that soccer game is, or realizing you didn’t grab any groceries for dinner, and now you need to make a last minute stop at the store, while also remembering it’s crazy hair day at daycare tomorrow. We’ve all been there! 

1. Setting a Routine

A solid routine will help keep your day predictable and comfortable, as well as optimize your time management. While there is always a time and a place to break routine and take a vacation, knowing how to swiftly move through your day will greatly help with your time management. 

A routine is essentially “life organization”, and helps to give you direction, and keep you active and moving forward throughout your day. Little ones thrive on routine. Routines allow them to know what to expect and when to expect things, and creates a calmer environment for both them and yourself. 

2. Meal Prepping

Meal prepping is huge! Meal prepping can be done in two stages: the planning stage, and the actual prepping stage. The planning can be as simple as pulling out a piece of paper and listing the dinners you will make for the week. Bonus time management tip for busy parents: this planning will really help with your grocery shopping each week! 

You can also do some actual meal prepping. Our family preps our lunches for the week each Sunday, and it really helps every day around noon. It eliminates the decision making, as well as the actual time it takes to make the food when you’re in the middle of a busy day. Pull up a kitchen helper to the counter and have your little one help wash, slice and package veggies for daily snacks. Pro tip: Tiny meals are delivered fresh-frozen and are perfect to have in your freezer for mealtimes!

3. Keep an Organized Calendar

One of the most overlooked time management tips for busy parents is keeping your calendar organized. These days we’re all carrying calendars in our pockets (your phone!). Use it. Really. This is an excellent tool to track your commitments, appointments, activities, and anything else life is throwing at you. It is a good practice to start and end each day with a quick look at your calendar. Knowing what tasks you are facing each day will help give you the awareness to tackle the day with confidence.

4. Single Parent Time Management Tips

Raising a child single-handedly can undoubtedly be stressful, but it is also a beautiful opportunity to serve as a role model and symbol of strength for your children. As a single parent, you have to do it all: make sure your kids are fed, help them with schoolwork, and bring them to soccer games - all while balancing your own career and passions. And there’s no one there to help, on a full-time basis, anyway. 

Remember that you can do as much as you can, but you can’t do it all. As a single parent, the above tips are even more paramount to time management success.