The Calendar

Our Life

Our Commuter Family has a master Google Calendar. It is a regular rainbow of colors for the many calendars we use the track our lives - those we have created and those we feed in through URLs. Youngest Son and Oldest Son have access to all the Calendars. Oldest Son maintains his (mostly) and Youngest Son uses to know what is happening. Afternoon Nanny and Car Pool Buddies use some.

Long ago, I put a kibosh to the boys' whining about not knowing when something was going to happen or where it was happening. They are expected to look at the calendar. I finally refused to be the only communication channel. (In full disclosure, I do still populate most of the calendars.)

This week, Youngest Son observed on the Google Calendar that Mommy with Commuter Husband (me) had events I am attending without other family members. Then he realized there are outings that both Commuter Husband and I are attending without kids - our kids - him. His immediate reaction was "No fair!"

My reaction is a smile.

First, it is good for our children to realize the world does not revolve around them. We constantly fight the over-parenting paradigm of our generation. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we succumb. This was one tiny victory.

Secondly, Commuter Husband and I have been trying to carve out more husband and wife time. Time as a couple frequently shifts to a lower priority. If Youngest Son has noticed we are doing more adult stuff then we have made progress here too!