One of the biggest complaints families tend to have as their children grow older is the chaos that ensues with everyone’s conflicting schedules. Between hockey practice, ballet lessons, school council meetings, and, if you’re lucky, an occasional date night for the parents, keeping things organized can feel impossible.
Me in a Tree is a new website designed to make your family’s schedules run smoothly. Each family member can input their various activities into a colour-coded calendar that includes places to slot in which parent is scheduled to drop off or pick up the kids. Parents can run the calendar themselves and older kids can log in with their own email addresses to add activities. The calendar can also be synched with calendars on other platforms to ensure that you don’t miss any important dates.
What sets Me in a Tree apart from a simpler, less family-oriented online calendar are the ton of extras to help you and your family spend some extra time together discussing all of your individual goings-on. The service schedules in a “family huddle” time for you each week, where everyone can get together and discuss their week. Each family is assigned a role in the discussion and is asked to contribute. While this step could be skipped, the mere reminder that you should be actually talking about your activities rather than just shuttling off from one event to another is something that most busy families need to consider.
There are other features that encourage that all important family-time, like a journaling function, a separate calendar for chores and duties, a family assessment quiz, and a place to enter a family pledge. If you have some empty slots in your calendar, Me in a Tree can also suggest family-friendly events, volunteer opportunities, parenting programs, and date night ideas in your city.
I really like the fun look of the site and its cast of animated characters that lead you through the process. Fully immersing yourself in the Me in a Tree world requires some initial setup, but since the end goal is to not only make your family more organized but to have you relating to each other on a more meaningful level, it’s more than worth a try. Family life can be such a blur — I know I’m willing to take on anything that will help me stop for a minute, step back from the chaos, and drink it all in.
Me in a Tree offers a two-week trial for anyone who wants to take a test drive. Check it out at MeinaTree.com.
