Staying on top of dates and to-do’s for your kids/school

[lifemin]

Could you take a few minutes to fill out this survey for a parent-focused startup?
www.lifeminco.com/parent-survey

I’m a mum of 3 school-age kids (10, 7, 7) and I’m working on a digital solution to help parents stay on top of all the dates and to-do’s associated with children - specifically, the communications and events from/at school.

I’ve done my own research about how it works at various schools but I’d like to get a picture from parents themselves: how does it work for you and at your schools?

ALSO - I’m currently piloting a calendar service in a handful of schools in the SW11 area of London, where dates and to-do’s from the school’s newsletter are automatically added to a parent’s personal calendar, along with email reminders. If you’ve ever wished your school had such a service and would be interested in making that a reality, please get in touch!

OP in the U.K. a public school is a private boarding school! We call them state schools.

Hi, yes - I tried to clarify the terminology up front but I've carried it through the survey now to avoid confusion. Thanks for flagging!

I'm confused.
Why would you not just put things into your diary when you are notified ?

I can't help with your survey as my youngest has just gone off to university, but I've managed to get 3 dc through schools and other things that involve dates (Scouts etc) by putting information straight into my diary as I received it. I'm puzzled as to why there would be an issue with that.

Indeed, that's what I do and I imagine many other parents do too. But...

• Some people find it challenging to keep track of it all and enter the dates.
• On an individual basis, it is time and effort to put those dates and reminders in the diary - particularly with multiple kids/schools. Certainly doable, but falls into the category of "invisible work" (google it!)
• On a collective basis, many parents all entering and keeping track of the same information points to a systematic inefficiency.
• Schools aren't great at making their comms very parent-friendly. Dates and actionable items are buried in long newsletters and/or multiple emails.

I suspect this is one of those things that will be very valuable for some people (I already have very happy customers) but not so much for others - so it goes! Hope that clears things up :)

Phone calendar for primary.
SIMS Parents for secondary.

Thanks @BlueChampagne, when you say phone calendar - is that you inputting yourself, or using a calendar service provided by the school?

Inputting myself. SIMs parents is input by school.

Thanks!

On an individual basis, it is time and effort to put those dates and reminders in the diary - particularly with multiple kids/schools. Certainly doable, but falls into the category of "invisible work" (google it!)
Hmm, I’m not convinced by this. I agree it is ‘yet another thing to do’, and it’s “invisible work” insofar as it’s exactly the sort of brain/time-consuming thing that my many childless colleagues don’t realise I’m juggling, but it’s also just a fairly basic part of having kids I think (and yes - I do have children at multiple settings, a demanding full-time job, and nobody else to share the burden, so it’s not that I have an atypically easy family life to manage). On an individual basis it’s a nuisance in much the same way I don’t always fancy feeding my kids when we get home in the evening, but nonetheless it’s got to be done! (Also it’s typically much quicker and more interesting than teatime? “Oh, it’s your class assembly next week, tell me about it” etc.)

On a collective basis, many parents all entering and keeping track of the same information points to a systematic inefficiency.
Mm, I’m not convinced by this. I mean yes it’s true, in much the same way that many households all remembering to ring round Sky, Virgin etc when their TV/broadband package has come to the end of its promotion price is a systematic inefficiency. Most things which are organised at household level are ‘systematically inefficient’. Overlaying with an app feels like overkill for this particular very small task, and also like an additional layer of complexity which doesn’t (for me personally) help to streamline executive function.

Schools aren't great at making their comms very parent-friendly. Dates and actionable items are buried in long newsletters and/or multiple emails.
Careful - I think schools and parents would generally consider much of the other info ‘burying’ the dates and actionables to be extremely relevant and important! Which is also why I don’t think an additional layer of comms through your service actually saves time or mental energy - I am still going to have to read the newsletter and periodically glance at classdojo.

Some people find it challenging to keep track of it all and enter the dates.
This is your strongest point IMO, but I would wonder still think that the number of parents in this position (and for whom the solution is having it appear in their electronic calendar, because that’s definitely not what suits everyone) is pretty small.

Hope this isn’t too antagonistic - it’s intended to be constructive! I appreciate that some people are already finding it valuable.

I just put it on my phone calendar and write it on the proper calendar as soon as I find out about it.

We get a mixture of things in a public calendar, and dates that are sent round separately via ParentApp, and individual appointments. Plus of course there's out of school clubs, who's going to the childminder when etc. etc. Not convinced this would help if more than half of a child's appointments aren't actually set by the school, or aren't set for all children. A shared Google calendar works well for us.

I agree with everything @NellWilsonsWhiteHair said.

Family Wall app

I think I'm very organised but things I have forgotten ...entrance exam for secondary school, that they were coming back from long European exchange (I was on other side of world) and first outing in county level team. Anything that can help will be an advantage, especially with more than one child/one school.

Mine are primary, and woefully bad at digital comms, we still get random pieces of paper coming home with key dates and appts on.

As soon as I get in I go through their bags, write anything onto the calendar in the kitchen and also add to my phone calendar. I don't think an app would make anything more eficient.

Our school have just introduced an app. Probably not what you want to hear but as far as I'm concerned its way, way worse.

16 notifications this week alone. 5 duplicates as we have children in different year groups. Its too many to keep on top of.
So rather than getting a calendar at the start of the year they just seem to be adding things to it daily. Why do I need to know this week that dd1 is having her jabs in April next year. Ridiculous.

It was supposed to be a one stop shop but some announcements come on email via the school vle. Some come direct via email. Some come via the app.

I wish they'd never moved away from the normal emails and a calendar each term. I can't cope with constant reminders/notifications. Rant over!