Sustainable Parenting

99. Organize Your Family Life with JAM!

• Flora McCormick, LCPC, Parenting Coach

Share episode

Busy family life can feel like a juggling act, but tools exist to simplify and organize it all. 

Jessica Etting, co-founder of Jam (https://www.jamfamilycalendar.com/) shares how her app helps families manage schedules and responsibilities smoothly.

By the time you finish listening, you’ll know:
• How your family can have less stress with a centralized family communication tool.
• Features of Jam and how it aids in organization. 

If you're ready to streamline your family life, find Jessica’s app at https://www.jamfamilycalendar.com/ and use the code “Jam 20” for a special discount! 


✨Want more?

1) Use this link for a FREE 20 min clarity call with Sustainable Parenting.

2) Download the FREE pdf. on getting kids to listen.

3) Buy a 3 session Coaching Bundle (saving you $100) - for THREE 30-min sessions 1:1 with ME, where we get right to the heart of your challenges, and give you small, powerful shifts that make a huge difference fast.

Speaker 1:

You're listening to episode 99 of the Sustainable Parenting Podcast and I'm so honored today to have Jessica Edding with me, the founder of JAM, who has an innovative approach to help modern parents solve their challenges. She went on a journey from being a successful screenwriter to co-founding a family-oriented tech startup, and she's going to share about it with us today. Hello and welcome to the Sustainable Parenting Podcast. Let me tell you, friend, this place is different. We fill that gap between gentle parenting and harsh discipline that's really missing to parent with kindness and firmness at the same time, and give you the exact steps to be able to parent in ways that are more realistic and effective and, for that reason, finally feel sustainable. Welcome.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I'm always all about how can we solve things as easy as possible. You know, sustainable parenting is the name of my business Because, you know, when I became a parent, I realized more than ever that, even with all the deep goals that I had, I wanted to do it as efficiently as possible. There's only so many hours in the day. How do we really reach our goals in a realistic way? So tell us about your tool and how it got developed and how it's helping parents.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I think you're absolutely right that you become a parent and you realize just how valuable time is. It's our most valuable resource, and I certainly had that experience. I have three kids now and, as you said, I was working in the entertainment industry and I think, especially today, where there's so much information that comes up parents in so many different ways, it's really different than the way that we were raised, where you would just bring home like a paper flyer in your backpack. Maybe you know I get emails and texts and WhatsApp chain pings all day long and the team snap app pings, and so I felt like it was impossible to keep track of everything and not to mention not just scheduling but what we had to get done and what we needed to buy and what was going to be for dinner all the logistics of modern family life.

Speaker 2:

And my sister is also a mom of two, a working mom. She has more of a software background and her kids are a little younger than mine, and so right after her second one was born, she said okay, I'm, I, just I can't figure out what's the app I'm supposed to be using for this. My husband and I are having so much trouble communicating about what needs to get done. We, like, just need a place where all this information goes, and I said it doesn't exist.

Speaker 2:

I know I've been looking for it for years, and so we decided to put our heads together and create the tool we wish we had, and we created Jam. And so Jam, basically, is like a hub for the family. It houses your scheduling, calendars, to-do lists, shopping lists all in one place. You can, you know, put it on a screen that you see in your house, you can get it on your phone, you can see it on your iPad, and it really allows everybody in the family to know what's going on, not just you know, the adults in the family, necessarily, but also your kids, any caregivers that you have, so that everybody can kind of chip in and take some of that mental load work off of the shoulders of who it usually falls on, which is mom.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I think that's one of the biggest things is, I've been looking for solutions so that I'm not the holder of all information, because we're asked constantly can I have a LaCroix, can I go to my friend's house, can I have a sleepover this weekend? And then, if we add to it, oh, when's my soccer game and what? When is this happening and coordinating all of that? It's like those 5000 tabs we have open in our brain that get really mentally exhausting.

Speaker 2:

Exactly those, that those constant tabs going is what causes so much burnout, for women especially, who are the ones kind of like we said, holding all this information and also the weight of knowing. I'm the only person who knows this, I'm the only person who knows soccer got moved from Thursday to Friday, which means we need to change the carpool, which means, oh, I was supposed to do that, so now this is, and all the domino effects of that every single day. And so by giving a place where everybody knows what's going on, it does take a lot of that weight off. It used to be, for example, if I went out of town for work. You know all the moms know you're leaving the like word doc of like everything everywhere is going.

Speaker 1:

Jessica, I literally just made this document yesterday because I'm leaving town for six days and it was like how do I convey the communication that I'm doing pickup? You're doing pickup for the other girls and this can't got canceled because they have a competition this weekend and, oh yes, also they. He needs to make sure to take his instrument on this day and like all the things.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, and it's once you actually write all of that out, you realize this is all the information I'm literally holding here every single day.

Speaker 1:

That's crazy, um that's just for five days.

Speaker 2:

And so our goal with jam is, when I go out of town now, I mean, my husband literally says to me he goes, I know it's some jam.

Speaker 2:

Like I don't write those things that anymore. And even if it wasn't him, if I had a caregiver or a grandparent, they could all all the information already lives somewhere besides my brain. Who's driving, what needs to get brought, it all comes in. So it definitely is like a big game changer in terms of feeling that completely on my own shoulders and also in terms of our family going, my sons, my husband saying, oh, like we actually know what's going on too. My favorite moment is when in the morning my husband will tell me oh, by the way, the kids have a dentist appointment today. I'm like I forgot. I'm so glad you saw it and reminded me, because that means we're going to do an early pickup or whatever it is, but we can work a little bit more as a team, because that means we're going to do an early pickup or whatever it is, but we can work a little bit more as a team.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and just having someone else be holding that information matters so much. So I'm thinking of the key tangible things that I was writing down on this list, and it was things like the phone numbers of the people that are doing the pickup for my kids. You know how to. Is there an area you put that Like? Can you tell us more about what does it look like?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Let me give you a few more details. So I think the coolest. There's two really cool things about jam that are very different than we've ever had before. And then there's all that additional information and nitty gritty like you're getting into too, where we, you know, we're all craving that place that we can just know everything is here. Um. So, first of all, the way that our calendar works is really different.

Speaker 2:

You can tag who in the family is going. You can tag who is driving. You can tag what needs to get done ahead of time or broad, and even if something does need to get done ahead of time, who's supposed to be doing that and by when. So all that information kind of lives there. It's much more cohesive. If three people in the family are going, or five people, it's all really easy to chart out. You can also what we're working on now is to bring in other families from your village. So we're working on right now a feature where you're tagging not just somebody in your house as a driver, not like a caregiver or another family member, but you know, I have a few carpools that I have going on. So I can tag Jenna and that's going to now go into her calendar as well.

Speaker 2:

Because, as we know, these things are kind of constantly changing, and also same goes for me. I can see, oh, jenna tags me. This is my day and these are the ones who are coming home from her house that I am responsible for today.

Speaker 1:

That alone would save me like 50 texts a month, because even though we have these assigned days Monday, wednesday, thursday there's always an exception. And oh, could you guys trade with me here that, there and and and. Then just asking are you for sure getting them today? Cause of course, we worry about our young kids and and I know I can forget things, so sometimes I want to nudge and be like just checking that you're doing this. But if I do like something like that, oh, we just shared, not only do you, know, but the jam software itself will send the reminders.

Speaker 2:

So we love that too is I don't have to even remember to remind, jam will just remind. Hey, you're the one who's driving today. That's going to be in 30 minutes. You probably need to leave now to do that. I love it so much.

Speaker 2:

And then, kind of on that same topic again, even getting things in the calendar I think can be be a tremendous challenge, or it used to be for me. It's just really overwhelming when so much comes your way. You see an email, you can't do it right. That second it gets forgotten and it never gets on the calendar. And so we engineered what we call Jam On it, where you just send things to Jam and it gets on the calendar for you.

Speaker 2:

So I have three kids at three schools right now. I have elementary school, junior high and high school, and so that's a lot of different calendars. It's a newsletter that I get every single week from three different schools with all different things that I need to know, and so I can just forward those newsletters to Jam. It reads it for me. It's how it puts all the information that I need to know into the calendar, including the location if something needs to get brought, or they needed to bring $5 for the bake sale or whatever it is, and then I can rest assured that it's there. I just forward. It's almost like sending it to an assistant. So that's been the other key thing for me, because I think I realized how much used to fall through the cracks in our family because one of us get it my husband or I, you know through some form of communication and it wouldn't always get onto the calendar.

Speaker 1:

So yes, awesome, so you can just forward the email to yourself or text the you know, hey, jam on it. Add this on Thursday yes you just forward it jam.

Speaker 2:

And we put it on the calendar for you, and I think what what's really great is like I always say like if I was just putting something in the calendar for my family, I'd say, okay, thursday, archer soccer, that's it. But when you forward the email to jam, they're like stalker. It's on this field, this is where you're supposed to park, this is what the coach said to bring, so, and here we have it all listed out for you water bottle, blah, blah, blah. And so I didn't have to enter all that. But then if I'm not the one taking them to stalker, no one has to like call me for what all that information is. It all lives there anyway.

Speaker 1:

So how just just so curious is this an AI feature of how it grabs that? Because that's what I wondered is. Sometimes a newsletter has some information that pertains to me and some that doesn't. So I had a different calendar app and didn't know how. You know how that, but AI is getting so smart now I'm sure it can sort through it.

Speaker 2:

It's such a great question. So it is AI, and that's something that we're constantly working on is making our AI even smarter so that, for example, it would be aware, like, okay, this event in the newsletter that's for second graders, that's not you, you've got a fifth grader. The other cool thing is that we put everything that jam on it gets onto your calendar, but a little bit in like a tentative format, it's there and then you can accept it or reject it. So at least everything gets on there. And if you're like, oh, that, that bagel breakfast Friday, I was never planning to go to that, okay X, it's off the calendar now. Um, and the more that you interact with it, the smarter it gets. As well to know oh, she loves these type of suggestions, but these ones are not helpful to her?

Speaker 1:

Oh, amazing. Can you tell me more about how kids can interact with this? Is that you know, like you were saying the like they need, their water bottle, their jersey? How does that fit in?

Speaker 2:

How does that fit in? Yeah, so I kind of noticed, just being a mom of three, that my kids didn't have so many opportunities to be responsible and empowered, to be prepared for the things that they had going on, because they had no way to see it all. You know, when we grew up, my mom it was a paper era. There was a paper calendar and there was paper invitations and everything lived on her desk, and so it was my responsibility to walk by every day and see oh, I've got a birthday party this weekend. How do my kids know that? Everything's coming on e-vite and going in? A digital calendar created a product that was safe for kids to be able to interact with, and obviously, as a mom, safety is really important to me too, both digital and online safety, but also within our family of hey, I don't want my eight-year-old messing up my whole work schedule on a calendar, like deleting these things that are essential for our family life, and so we created different roles for our kids little kid, big kid, teen that give them each role kind of grants a little bit more responsibility and autonomy. But no matter what your role is like as a kid, you can see what events you have on the calendar that are for you and then when you click on those events, you can see is there something that needs to get brought or done ahead of time? And was that assigned to you? Is there something that needs to get brought or done ahead of time? And was that assigned to you?

Speaker 2:

And so my son, my youngest one, used to get so anxious. Every night before bed He'd go what's going on tomorrow and what's going on the day after that and what's going on this weekend, and obviously he was just trying to make sense of himself and the world. And so now he can literally look at jam, he knows when he needs to pack his soccer bag. He loves to put it by the front door and he can really check off those items each week and just know I didn't miss anything. So I think there's something great about that. You can also create lists for your kids. So if you want to create like a chore list or a habit list or whatever it is, we have in our family, we have like one communal list that you know it's everything we need for our house that could be assigned to me. It might be assigned to one of the kids and then the kids can each have their own kind of like individual list as well, more of what they have to handle for themselves.

Speaker 1:

Love this. Oh my god, I could think of so many uses and I can't wait to download it. I'm sorry I haven't already. I'm gonna do it right away. I definitely love it.

Speaker 2:

I also love that I haven't already. I'm going to do it right away. I definitely love it. I also love that I don't have to be the nagging mom all the time. I can see like what has gotten checked off, what hasn't. They will get reminders If I put a deadline on it. That was not for me, Like they will get that reminder, and so that's especially helpful for my teenager.

Speaker 1:

So helpful. Yeah, so not like cause. Yeah, many other calendars I've seen don't integrate in that way. You would still be an that they have to go to the device, to the digital calendar that's hanging on the wall or something to see.

Speaker 2:

Right, exactly, and you know, obviously we're just out and about a lot in the world and we need to be able to have access to things when we're out, and especially like for the tweens and the teens who are often they, you know, school ends but they're going to a practice, maybe with a friend, or maybe it's at school, but then someone else is driving and it's not quite the same thing as elementary school. So for them to be able to have a little bit more oversight with them where they're going, who's supposed to be driving them, is so great. I love it.

Speaker 1:

So smart I'm. I'm just going to pause for a second and I'll cut this out in the middle, but I like downloading it and, like I've, got to. I wish I had done this. You tell your assistant that in the future make sure that people like download the app before your interview, because then I could have had more valuable. I just my brain is not always putting this all together.

Speaker 1:

No, no worries, but yeah, and really the price point is so reasonable for what a lot of digital calendars are costing and, like I said, only giving a fraction. I'll say this officially. You know I did look at the app and it is even also super reasonable price wise compared to what many digital calendars are costing the one that we own actually right now in our kitchen, you know, would and that only has a fraction of these types of features to it. You know you could have this app for three years to be the equivalent of that item. So this feels so reasonable and I'm really excited to try it.

Speaker 2:

I know definitely there's families out there that have probably seen the ads for the calendar frames or maybe they have one in their home and I can completely understand why that is so alluring as well.

Speaker 2:

It's this idea of having a place where everybody in the family can see it. However, to your point, those are really expensive. They cost hundreds of dollars up front and you don't even know if your family is going to be able to use it or if they like it or if it will work, and so with Jam, we created a software that can be used anywhere. It can be used on a phone or a tablet or a shared family tablet, or you can airplay it to your television that you already own, so everybody can see it. So it's just a little bit of a more pragmatic way for everybody to still be able to have that visibility if you want it, but also be able to use it more easily on the go and not have to spend so much upfront for an organization system that you're not sure if it's going to work. And I know we always, as moms, come in with these big ideas. I'm going to reorganize our whole life, and this is going to happen and the kids are like.

Speaker 2:

I've heard this one before. With Jam, we really wanted to make it easy, fun, intuitive, but fast, easy to download, easy to get started with. You don't need to like figure out how to get something out of a box, plug it all in. But if you want to put it on the screen in your house, it wouldn't be easier either.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much, jessica, for sharing this resource with us. I can think of so many of my friends that and clients that I would love to recommend this to, because I often get parents asking for tangible ways that, like you said, they can share the information more and responsibility more with both their partners and or the kids. That certainly aligns with all of our values here about building confidence by building competence, that kids are more independent and a part of the team for the whole family, so I'm so thankful you reached out to share this with us.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much for having me on here. It's such a pleasure to be here and also I just always love sharing these types of tools. I created this because, as a mom, it was something that I literally was desperate for myself, and so it's such a joy to bring it to other moms, to other parents, in the hopes of helping everybody live life a little bit easier, get a little bit more joy in their day and a little less stress and, to your point, work together as a family, as a team, even easier.

Speaker 1:

And, by the way, jessica, thank you so much for offering us this discount code of jam 20. You emailed me that ahead of time, so I want to share that right now with you, the listener. If this sounds like an exciting resource to you, you get the chance to try it out with an exclusive discount here, called Jam 20. So type that in when you check out the website. That will be linked in our show notes. That gets you to the app and friends. In our next episode I'll be diving in with Joanna Bertkin, who is a National Credentialed School Psychologist and Student Assistance Coordinator here at the Bozeman Public School District, to talk about phones in schools and generally the details and effects of having phones in the hands of our children. Don't miss this really important, insightful conversation with Joanna. I'm excited to share it with you right in the next episode. Join us.