Keeping all the balls in the air

This morning I realized that amidst all the (metaphorical) balls in the air, I accidentally dropped a few.  My husband and I accidentally left the baby's stroller in the car he took to work today, which meant that our au pair has no stroller to use for the day.  I also meant to help my three year-old write thank you cards for his preschool teachers to give to them at today's year-end celebration, and I completely forgot about it over the weekend.  Such is life with two kids - there are way too many details to keep track of everything and not drop a few balls some of the time.

Since becoming a parent more than 3 years ago, I have developed a new-found respect for and understanding of parents in our synagogue community.  I used to be frustrated when parents forgot about Religious School family programs, or forgot about a change in the Religious School schedule... but now I 'get it'... not just intellectually, but viscerally, emotionally.  Being a parent is hard in many ways, and one of the challenges is to keep all the various 'balls' in the air.  I've come to learn that all of us 'drop the ball' sometimes!

The question for me as a Jewish educator is, "How do we help parents keep the 'Jewish education' ball in the air?"  If we send extra emails, parents get annoyed that we email too much.  If we don't send an extra reminder email, then it's easy to forget when special events are happening, or what's going on in the synagogue and in the Religious School.  As an educator, I find it difficult to balance "too much information" vs. "not enough information."  As a parent, I understand well both sides of the coin... I want the reminders, but I'm also overwhelmed with emails, calendar changes, and yes, details.  Such is life in the 21st century, I suppose!