CREATING A DIGITAL FAMILY CALENDAR HappyHealthyCaregiver.com

ONE DIGITAL FAMILY CALENDAR Why one –All singing from the same song sheet –Spouse, kids, aging parent - anyone that needs to know inner workings of each day –Self-service access to the family agenda Why digital –Paper is outdated as soon as you print it or only as good as the last time you update it –Accessible from anywhere – your phone –Everyone in the family can access it from their phone and maintain it –You can create recurring events Sport and activity calendars Annual birthdays and anniversaries

WHY A GOOGLE CALENDAR Free Easy to setup Add once, syncs everywhere Color code by family member Reminders will appear on everyone’s phone No more multiple paper schedules and calendars

SETTING UP A GOOGLE CALENDAR 1.Create or designate a Google account to use for your family calendar (e.g. 2.While logged in to your gmail account, find your calendar by going to 3.Gather all your existing schedules and calendars and create one-time or recurring events by selecting the red ‘create’ button on the top left of your family calendar. 4.Adjust details - Select ‘repeat’ checkbox if recurring. Modify reminders as needed. Assign colors to each family member or one color for family events. 5.Share the calendar with family members by either: –adding their addresses: ‘Settings>Calendars>Share this Calendar’ –Add the family calendar account to their electronic device. For an iPhone ‘Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars>Add Account’. Choose ‘Google’.

PRACTICAL CALENDAR TIPS 1.When sharing an account on child’s iPhone, turn off ‘Mail’ & ‘Contacts’ unless you want them to access these features. 2.When a family event impacts your work day or your spouse’s work day, add your work calendar address (or your spouse’s) as an ‘invitee’ to the event. When at work, add ‘drive time’ around your event. 3.Establish default rules with your spouse –he takes kid’s to morning appointments and I take kid’s to afternoon appointments –he ‘owns’ replying to this sports s and adding calendar events and I ‘own’ the other sport 4.Be diligent about adding events to the family calendar as soon as you see date on or paper that is brought home