How do you make your family calendar “work”?  We have a bit of an unusual arrangement in our house in that my husband works evenings and weekends, so we’ve managed to come up with a schedule that — for the most part — works for us.  Although I hate the fact that he works every Saturday night, making it hard for us to socialize, the payoff is that he’s home with the kids during the day, which we both love.

With shift-work and home offices, in many families, the 9-to-5 routine is not the norm.  But it can mean that while one parent is coming, the other is going, and there’s not much overlap.  And it may not even be work that leads to “shifts”.  It could be an abundance of after-school activities and sports, or taking care of an elderly parent, or getting kids to and from jobs of their own.  Many of us may have grown up with a family dinner at the kitchen table every night, but that’s just not the reality in our own families.  Family time may suffer…as does couple time.

It’s important to recognize that while taking “shifts” at work and at parenting can benefit the family finances, there may be an enormous toll on the relationship(s).  So it’s critical to set aside time, whenever that may be, to connect with everyone in the family, individually and as a group.

So…how do you make it work?