| Schedules and time management systems are | | | | Keep a message book by the phone, and teach |
| the quickest and easiest ways to eliminate conflict | | | | children how to properly take messages. Spiral |
| and better manage your household. It's amazing | | | | message notebooks tend to work better than |
| how wonderful these tools are and how they | | | | the notepads since the messages stay in one |
| simplify one's life, but it's even more amazing that | | | | spot. |
| with all these benefits, few people use them! It will | | | | Use your bulletin board to leave each other notes |
| take a few hours to set up your system, but it's | | | | or remind-ers. Have some fun and leave each |
| worth it. | | | | other special notes on special papers. A little |
| Communication Central Shopping List | | | | gesture like this can brighten the day of both |
| A weekly planner | | | | parent and child. You may also want to sup-ply |
| A set of colored dry-erase markers | | | | hooks for each family member to store their |
| Dry-erase calendars (both monthly and weekly) | | | | keys. |
| Address book | | | | Create a weekly calendar of meals, and plan |
| A small bulletin board | | | | these out in ad-vance. A Sunday afternoon is a |
| Notepad | | | | good day to sit down and have a small family |
| Two letter trays | | | | meeting so everyone can touch base. Create the |
| A message book (spiral notebooks work fine) | | | | upcoming dinner schedule during this time and a |
| Scrap paper and tacks | | | | shopping list. Post it on the refrigerator for easy |
| A three-ring binder and assorted color | | | | reference. |
| construction paper | | | | Create a kid's phone book. Purchase some |
| Hole punch | | | | construction paper and a three-ring-binder. Let |
| Communication Central will become an important | | | | each child have their own color paper, i.e. Kim's |
| place in your home. To begin, mount a weekly | | | | Red Pages, John's Purple Pages, etc. Punch the |
| and monthly dry-erase calendar on your | | | | paper and insert it into the binder. Kids can record |
| refrigerator. Assign each of your children a | | | | frequently dialed numbers, schedules and notes in |
| colored marker. Let them be re-sponsible for | | | | their pages. You may want to tie a string to a |
| recording their school notes, field trips, re-port | | | | binder ring and attach it to a table near the phone |
| deadlines, etc. on the calendar. Parents should | | | | to prevent it from "walking" away. |
| have two colors; one for your personal schedule | | | | Lastly, put an "In" & "Out" basket |
| and another for family events and other activities | | | | somewhere within your child's reach. Anything she |
| that concern the family as a whole. | | | | needs your help with or signa-ture on can go in |
| Other necessities for Communication Central | | | | the "In" basket. You can also use this for items |
| in-clude: | | | | you need to read, file or respond to. Once |
| An address book to keep all phone numbers | | | | completed place the item in the "Out" basket. |
| handy. On the first page, fill in emergency contact | | | | Once a week go through the Out basket and |
| numbers and make sure that your children know | | | | handle each item to avoid pile up. |
| how to access, and when to use, these numbers. | | | | |