We’ve all seen the meme about having to step down from our full-time jobs so we can manage the emails we get from our kids’ school. It’s funny. Because it’s true. But it’s also not funny. Because it’s true.
While parents appreciate the info in the emails and they do need to receive it, it’s a pretty inefficient process when you think about it.
Let’s say one class has 30 kids in it. And for those 30 kids, let’s say there’s 50 parents on the communication list. And let’s say the school sends an email about a dress-up day that’s happening on a certain date. So every one of those parents has to put it into their calendar. And set a reminder notification. And at the very least, remember that the event is on. Now let’s say there’s 10,000 schools in Australia alone. (Rounded up to the nearest 1000 alright.)
You don’t have to be a maths genius to figure out that that’s a lot of human effort for one event.
And a lot of parents losing their shizzle because they’ve got a zillion other things going on at the same time.
But, help is here. Enter, the shared school parent calendar.
Firstly, what are the benefits of a school calendar?
Better communication
A shared calendar provides a central location where parents can access important info about their kid's school schedule. Not just for events like dress-up days and sports days, but it can also include upcoming assignments, school camps, and parent info nights. By having access to this info, parents can plan ahead and make sure that they don’t forget what’s on.
More social stuff
School should be a fun time for kids. But parents should also be able to let their hair down, if and when they ever get a spare 5 minutes to do so. And there really is no therapy like getting together with other parents to vent, download and de-stress about all the things that are getting under your skin lately. A shared calendar can be the ideal place for parents to organise their social events. Like a coffee catch up after drop-off. Or a paint and sip night on a weekend. Kids meet some of their best and lifelong mates at school. And parents should have the opportunity to do the same.
Improved classroom outcomes
A shared calendar can help the teachers as well as the parents in a class. If a parent has a question about an event, they can refer to the shared calendar for event details without having to contact the teacher. (Teachers, like heath care workers, are the true heroes of our time and their load should be lightened wherever possible.) The teacher can then better use their time educating and caring for the kids in the class (or trying to keep the kids on task anyway).
Time management
School is just one part of life. There are so many other parts (family, work, sport, friends etc). So ideally, if you can see what’s on in your shared school calendar right alongside the events for all the other parts of your life, then that’s a massive time-saver. And brainsaver. You’ll be able to see if there’s any clashes with other events, so no double bookings. And you’ll be able to breathe easier knowing that everything is right there in the one place.
Now that we’re all frothing over the benefits, let’s look at a real example of how a shared calendar can work for parents.
A real example
So Kate is the class rep for her kid’s class.
Kate has set up a shared calendar with 15 of the other parents who have kids in the class that her kid is in.
Whenever Kate gets an email from the school about a class event (or a notification from the school app or a post on the class FB group or wherever else it may come from), she screenshots it and puts it straight into the shared calendar.
She adds reminders to the event (one reminder for a day before and another one for an hour before the event).
This way, every parent gets the event in their calendar immediately.
And they’ll also get the reminder notifications prior to the event.
When Kate, or any of the parents tap on the reminder notification, it will open the event with all the details.
So everyone gets the info they need.
All of the other parents in the class who are on the shared calendar have been spared the time of putting the event into their own individual calendars.
Everyone remembers.
Everyone gets the thing done for the event that they needed to.
Everyone’s kids is happy. (Well, for a moment anyway)
But how can I do it?
So there you have it.
A shared calendar is a hugely valuable tool for school parents.
It saves every parent having to do the heavy lifting.
And it saves every parent a bomb load of time.
Which as well all know, is a rare and precious resource these days.
If you’re a ‘Kate’ get into your Eggy app and set up a shared space with a shared calendar for the parents in your kid’s school class.
If you’re not a ‘Kate’, find the parent in your class who is.
There’s always one superorganiser in any group.
Just show them the Eggy app and they’ll be all over it.
Need help to set up your shared calendar in Eggy?
If you need any help with setting up a shared space and a shared calendar in Eggy, we'll happily take you through.
Just book a time here.