Time to Parent

In Time to Parent, the bestselling organizational guru takes on the ultimate time-management challenge-parenting, from toddlers to teens-with concrete ways to structure and spend true quality time with your kids.
Would you ever take a job without a job description, let alone one that requires a lifetime contract? Parents do this every day, and yet there is no instruction manual that offers achievable methods for containing and organizing the seemingly endless job of parenting. Finding a healthy balance between raising a human and being a human often feels impossible, but Julie Morgenstern shows you how to harness your own strengths and weaknesses to make the job your own. This revolutionary roadmap includes:
A unique framework with eight quadrants that separates parenting responsibilities into actionable, manageable tasks-for the whole bumpy ride from cradle to college.
Simple strategies to stay truly present and focused, whether you're playing with your kids, enjoying a meal with your significant other, or getting ahead on that big proposal for work.
Clever tips to make the most of in-between time-Just 5-15 minutes of your undivided attention has a huge impact on kids.
Permission to take personal time without feeling guilty, and the science and case studies that show how important self-care is and how to make time for it.

INTRODUCTION Kids: An Instruction Manual ix

Part I Time and Attention
1. Undivided Focus: What Parents Crave 3
2. Loved and Listened To: What Kids Need 15
3. Organizing the Job: A Simple Blueprint 26
4. A Guide to the Quadrants 39

Part II Self-Assessing
5. Where Do You Gravitate?: Your Quadrant Scorecard 57
6. Four Time-Management Skills You Must Master 74

Part III Raising a Human Being: Doing Your P.A.R.T.
7. Provide 99
8. Arrange 115
9. Relate 144
10. Teach 169

Part IV Being a Human Being: Fueling Your S.E.L.F.
11. Sleep 205
12. Exercise 228
13. Love 248
14. Fun 271

Part V Life Happens
15. When Life Throws You Curveballs: Moving, Divorce, Illness, Job Loss 293

AFTERWORD Enjoy the Ride 328