Very often, weekends and vacations mean long stretches of unstructured
time, days that seem long at first, then finish quickly. Sometimes that's okay,
but on this, the last day with her relatives, my daughter decided that
there was too much to do just to let the day go by. So last night, as the
rest of us got ready for bed, she crafted a schedule, a fifteen-item
schedule, to guide not just her own time today, but all of ours. Number one
on the list--waking up significantly earlier than she EVER would on a
non-school day. We spent the day being either ahead of or behind the
schedule, but, by golly, as I look at it now, I see that we checked off
every box. Every one.
I have been known to make to-do lists for my days--at least once in a
while on paper and not just in my head. I spent several years as a PA helping
directors schedule shooting days and part of a year scheduling
production weeks as a producer. I know first-hand that more gets done
when there is written evidence that more is supposed to get done. But
sometimes it takes a child to remind us grownups that a piece of paper
makes us accountable. We did everything we wanted to do today (and
actually had time to spare for a few non-list items) because my daughter
made a schedule and committed to following it. I don't know that we
will wake up quite so early on the kids' last few vacation days, but
perhaps a schedule will ensure that those days don't just fly by.
And you'd better believe I'll be taking my daughter's schedule solution
so I can start catching up the minute they go back to school!
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