Some teen “calendaring issues” + a milestone

You guys know I’m a Google Calendar devotee, and it has served our family well over the years now, too. It links to our smart refrigerator screen, so it’s always visible in the main part of the house, and everyone has it on their phones, too.

I, of course, have always managed the “updating” and color coding. This was never much of an issue- I am also the one who has always looked at the swim schedules, the soccer schedules, the school schedules, etc. SO MANY schedules…

Even these last couple years while they worked at McDonald’s, it wasn’t too hard for me to get their work schedules added to the Family Calendar- they usually worked pretty much at the same time (morning shifts) on weekends, so it was mostly just a matter of asking if they worked or not.

Well, all of a sudden, for the first time ever, we’ve had some issues this summer.

They now both have new jobs, and their hours are all over the place. It has seemed oddly confusing to even figure out exactly when their schedules will be released- and when they have to have their upcoming availability or request off in by.

Ethan has had intermittent captain’s soccer practices (communicated by the captains to the players in group chats, not to the parents…) and he has been volunteering (basically whenever he wants- also not on any sort of schedule I can see).

At Panera, Ethan has a scheduling app to update his availability and view his hours. At the pool for Asher, honestly, I don’t even know exactly how it works. He seems to get his schedule for several weeks in advance, in some online format that I don’t have access to. They also publish the pool hours in a Google Calendar link, which I have linked, but this doesn’t seem to include shifts he trades for or picks up extra…and then this week some of his regular evening shifts just didn’t show up there and he didn’t know why, so I am not convinced that’s a reliable source.

The boys are good about checking their schedules and generally knowing when they work and have things going on. So that is good. But they are NOT GOOD AT UPDATING THE FAMILY GOOGLE CALENDAR. It seems that in their mind, so long as they know when they work, it’s all good. Well, it is not “all good” over here!! Obviously their work/activities do impact the rest of us, what we can do + when, family plans, etc. (especially when Asher still needs RIDES).

I have also not been good at establishing a standard check in to make sure the calendar is getting updated and asking about their hours, so I guess that’s sort of on me, but it has been kind of a mess this summer.

We’ve had several schedule related mini-disasters. Because Asher’s availability need to be in far in advance, this has been another problem. He “forgot” about his Regionals swim meet (which was on the calendar…) and didn’t ask off work, and therefore was scheduled to work literally all weekend that weekend. Fortunately he was able to scramble and get someone to cover his shifts, but if he hadn’t, he probably would have had to miss the meet! Obviously he can’t just not show up to work…

Then this week, his club swim coach was looking for volunteers to help with these free community swim lessons his team is offering at the high school every night. I asked Asher if he wanted to volunteer, he said sure, and I emailed the coach back that Asher would be there. So the coach publishes the volunteer schedule, obviously counting on Asher as a volunteer, and then…. oops, Asher realized he actually has to WORK every evening this week and is not available to volunteer. 😫 Somehow I guess he failed to notice that? (Or simply failed to check first…?) Argh!! So then I had to email the swim coach back and say, I am SO SORRY but actually Asher cannot volunteer…. (now that your schedule is all final for the volunteer lessons!!! 😬😬). How embarrassing. (Obviously I could have also helped avoid this if we’d had his damn work schedule on the calendar…he normally rarely works the evening shifts though, so it wasn’t even on my radar.)

Clearly, this is all preventable with better planning systems and calendar updating, but they are plenty old enough to add things to the calendar themselves! They are just lazy and admit they don’t want to be bothered, because in their teenage minds, which function very much on an “in the moment”, day-to-day level, it is not important. (Also, in their minds, they already have a source for their schedules- their online work app portals- so they don’t want to have to duplicate it all in another source.)

Probably what we need is a quick little Saturday family meeting or something to just sit down together and update the calendar.

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Brewer’s Game!

In other news, Ethan and 3 of his friends went to a Brewer’s game last night. The Brewers are apparently doing very well this season so far, and they were playing the Chicago Cubs (local rival!). He and his friends had the idea to go to a game.

Ethan asked if he could borrow my mini-van to go down early and tailgate and the whole nine yards. This idea initially made me quite leery (bunch of teenagers in a van, Milwaukee + ballgame traffic, late night return in traffic with probably some drunk people in other cars….?)

However, ultimately, we decided to let him. Ivan pointed out that he has driven the Milwaukee freeways before on his own (for tennis, in the spring), so he does have some experience. Also, the stadium is really just a straight shot down I-94. Ethan probably drives in worse freeway traffic every day on his way to school, honestly, and as Ivan commented while I was fretting, “Driving is just an inevitable part of life and he’s always going to have to do it…” (His friends are exceptionally calm, super well behaved and responsible guys, not rowdy in the slightest, so I was at least not concerned about the “stereotypical teen boy behavior” you might normally envision, thankfully.)

They went and had the BEST time!! The other moms and I were texting, and we were so proud of them. Without even an ounce of parental involvement (literally, I had nothing to do with any of it), they bought their own tickets, figured out parking, and then all went tailgate shopping 100% on their own (together) the day before the game. (I went upstairs Monday afternoon and found a bag with hamburger buns, chips, and red Soho cups in the kitchen). They pooled together and bought stuff for burgers, brats, chips, fruit and more. They loaded a grill and coolers in my van and off they went.

Ethan sent me several pictures, it was a gorgeous and perfect summer night (6 pm game), AND the Brewers crushed the Cubs. Sounds like he had a total blast, and I can’t believe he is grown up enough to do things like this now.

He wasn’t home yet at 10:30 when I went to bed, so I told Ivan he had to stay up and make sure they got home ok! Haha. (When I last checked his iPhone, he was sitting in traffic waiting to get out of the stadium…Ethan said the game attendance was 40,000.) I woke up at 1:30 a.m. briefly and nudged Ivan to ask if Ethan was home, he said yep, and I went back to sleep. 🙂

Now tonight he and his friends are going to a movie. He’s soaking up all the last bits of summer freedom, because we leave for Florida on Friday, and when we get home in a week, he literally starts school 3 days later!! Where did summer go…

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful that Ethan had the best time at the Brewers game. His excited sounding texts and pics made me so happy. Also, I am so grateful that they made it there and back safely, no issues!!