How Can Family Task Organizers Teach Children Life Skills
For those hearing for the first time, the concept of a family organizer planner would sound unconventional. However, this concept was a global necessity for working parents living with digital-nomadic children. Hence, family task organizer apps were developed.
What are Family Task Organizers?
The concept of such apps is similar to that of workplace management platforms like Slack. But, a family organizer is directed toward family members rather than colleagues. All family members can be invited to a platform and stay in sync with what’s scheduled for other members at a particular time.
For parents, such apps prove to be catalysts for strengthening relationships with their children and creating opportunities for teaching important life skills like accountability. A family organizer app has several features that make this possible.
1. Tasks can be assigned:
Family organizer apps come with tools similar to a task manager. Parents can assign tasks and involve children in activities like buying groceries or planning for a trip. This would exude some sense of responsibility and freedom in children. Being assigned a task would, quite straightforwardly, mean that children have gained some liberty in the decision-making process. Every good decision made will motivate them to take the lead in different tasks actively. Conversely, each underdeveloped decision would encourage them to identify what could’ve been done better.
2. Children can plan their own schedule:
Learning accountability doesn’t just have to be about following parents’ orders. Children can allocate time for commitments like school and sports through a schedule planner. If a child is blocking out time, it would reflect that they’re learning how to prioritize activities. Furthermore, they would also learn that they’d be responsible for every decision they make during the scheduled time, leaving no opportunity for recklessness. Children would also understand that they must plan their tasks in a way that doesn’t impact other’s schedules. This would encourage them to be considerate when making any decision.
3. Parents can customize access:
A family’s shared calendar app would likely have a feature that allows the primary account holder to set permissions for different members. For instance, some members could be excluded from editor access to certain activities. These activities may be related to making financial or household decisions. Allowing the viewer’s access would keep everyone in sync, but allowing additional editor access when the time is right would make children realize that they’re being handed a big responsibility.
The newer the responsibility, the more likely the child is to use the event planner to schedule a time to seek guidance from you. This can be thought of as an indicator of the child’s awareness of practising accountability.
The Bottom Line:
Using a daily planner can be a great way to get children involved with what’s going on in the household. As they grow up, skills learned from being involved in the decision-making process can help them excel in life.
A calendar planner would always assure them that they’re in sync with everything that’s planned in the family. Nonetheless, parents must never force any task on their children. Rather, they should have a considerate and mutual approach. This would help children understand that any planning is done better when you’re inclusive of other’s needs.