The typical mothers' datebook scheduling session goes something like this:

MOTHER ONE: "Ashley can play with little Lindsey on September second, from 3 to 4 PM. How does that fit your schedule?"

MOTHER TWO: "Oh, dear. She has a piano lesson then--unless she qualifies for the regional young musicians competition and then we'll be in New York. How about November 11th?"

MOTHER ONE: "Hmmm, that's a tight squeeze for us. Ashley has an advanced jungle gym climbing course until 3:30 on that day. How about December third?"

MOTHER TWO: "No, we'll be standing in line to get "Nutcracker" tickets from the first through the sixth. It only took to about the fourth last year to get some decent seats up in the balcony..."
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MOTHER ONE: "Lucky you! Well, the winter is really booked up for us. We're planning on taking a family class for snowboarding from January through March... Is April open for you all?"

MOTHER TWO: "I think April is fairly busy for us. We have the statewide Easter Egg Hunt to plan and implement. June is looking good, though."

MOTHER ONE: "June it is, then. We'll see you in June of 2012--unless it interferes with the girls' high school graduation ceremonies..."

And so forth.

But these sorts of scheduling conflicts can be minimized if Mom and Dad can train their offspring to check the "family calendar" before making any commitment to attend a concert, play over at a friend's or get married to that funny kid your college-aged daughter perpetually invites over for dinner. . .

A convenient place to house such a calendar or datebook is by the phone that gets the most use each day. In most homes that means the kitchen phone. A corkboard tacked above the phone area with a large square calendar and a pen or marker tied to it with a string makes for an idiot-proof set up.  Some families even "color-code" their calendars with blue marker for Johnny and pink for Suzy. Mom and Dad usually settle for "green" which is what all these crazy activities are costing them anyway.

Any date that is too important to miss--i.e. the day you officially adopt that funny kid into the family through matrimony--can be circled with a giant red circle and a slash like you see on road signs. This means, "You must yield to the authorities (Mom and Dad) before you plan anything on this date." Be sure to use unwashable markers or blood and not a cheap substitute like college-aged daughter's riot red lipstick to mark important days such as these. Never ever "pencil in" an event unless you want to simply let it "disappear" in the collective consciousness of your brood. Even an eraser-less house such as ours somehow finds a way to blot out this less than exciting activities that generally parents schedule for "family togetherness".

And "family togetherness" is what a datebook is all about.   So get organized today, and be sure you leave at least one day a week open you can share together without a scheduling conflict. You may find out you actually like that funny looking kid after all...