Comments on: How does weekend planning work? (More on Tranquility by Tuesday Rule #2: Plan on Fridays)

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 19:04:10 +0000

Very helpful, Laura!

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 14:00:25 +0000

In reply to Coree. @Coree- that is fun to discover your past self planned something cool! I think the staying at home vs. going out thing partly changes with kid ages. If we have a sitter for the little guy (who takes him out) then it feels perfectly relaxing to just hang out at home. But if he is home, well, better to schedule an activity because we start climbing the walls too.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 13:58:58 +0000

In reply to Alexicographer.

@Alexicographer – absolutely on the weather factor. Sometimes what winds up happening is if I block, say, Saturday afternoon for a family activity, that becomes somewhat weather dependent. Aquarium if it’s sleeting, but maybe the zoo if it’s nice!

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 13:57:32 +0000

In reply to Calee.

@Calee – pretty sweet to play for the Mets scouts! Yep, that would be an intense schedule. I am not sure if the parents come along for the travel games or not, but I imagine so, and so if you’re trying to make sure some of the family does non baseball stuff over the weekend, you could assign each parent baseball duty for a weekend. The other parent could then make their own plans (with the other kid as needed/desired) and know that if there isn’t a game or if it’s local and early or something the other family members will join you or do something else. And then if you are the baseball parent that weekend you plan on doing the game, but have some back-up stuff you could do on Sunday if they don’t win. And honestly, while I like planning on Friday for the weekend 8-9 days hence, if you learn on Tuesday that he isn’t playing, that would give you plenty of time to plan something for the weekend! And if he is playing, and you know the time on Wednesday and it’s something that allows for other things (e.g. a late game not too far away) that would still give you a few days to figure something out. Maybe make a list of potential things you’d like to do so you can just pull from that when the opportunity arises.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 13:52:50 +0000

In reply to Rachel.

@Rachel – ha, yes, texting about a Saturday playdate for the Saturday 8 days hence does seem a bit…excited! I also make sure it’s only week of…

By: Coree

Coree — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 08:28:38 +0000

I try to start thinking about the weekend awhile ahead, especially since this term, I get home on Friday nights late. If we waited till Saturday am, we’d never leave the house. We have two anchors – music on Saturday, swim on Sunday, and work around those. But it feels like a lot of our friends book up far in advance, so we will plan things for 3-4 weeks out and just put them in the calendar. I always find it a treat when I’ve forgotten that we were seeing so and so, and notice it the week before.

My husband and son would happily spend the weekend at home, but I’d be climbing the walls, so we are careful to get outside and have at least one low key social thing.

By: Alexicographer

Alexicographer — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 00:12:56 +0000

I’m not a planner to the extent that you are, *but* aside from the advantages you mention, retooling the general plan a few days (at most) in advance (or just creating a plan a few days in advance, as the case may be) lets one factor in the weather. We exercise and socialize outside a lot and live in a place with pretty frequent variations (this week contains everything from a sunny day with highs in the 60s to 40s and raining to sunny and 30s) so trying to push activities into places where the weather improves rather than detracts from the experience has become a goal of mine. We also have just 1 kid and he plays only limited organized sports, so that helps with flexibility.

By: Calee

Calee — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 23:14:03 +0000

We’re a travel baseball family with our son playing for a new program this year. It has lots of benefits (they invited him to showcase for Mets scouts last Saturday) but basically we have to be available for him to play every weekend once the season starts next month. We’ve always had him play on teams where we got an every other weekend schedule months in advance so this is a little daunting from a planning perspective. Apparently we’ll be notified on Tuesdays if he’s playing on the weekend and baseball tournaments usually release Saturday schedules on Wednesdays- Sunday just depends on scores Saturday. Any tips so I don’t loose my mind this season? We already have a few non-negotiable weekends (Greek Easter, a 90th birthday party) but I hate not being able to plan that week or so in advance. Ideas?

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 19:08:06 +0000

I do a personal weekly review on Fridays and then my husband and I do our family weekly planning sessions on Friday evenings. We do exactly the same as you for weekends – on Friday we confirm what we are doing for Saturday and Sunday and then start rough planning the next weekend. When it comes to planning playdates I usually put a note for myself to text people the following Monday/Tuesday to arrange something – I’ve realize I look far too keen texting on Friday for a playdate the following Saturday.

It does mean that we don’t end up with surprise empty weekends… or surprise over-full ones.