The Good, Better, Best Calendar Test for Families

• Guest Author: Kori Pennypacker, CEO at Bible2School
• Posted: August 20, 2025

We are all busy. But when it comes to parenting, did you know there are two types of “busy”? Healthy busy and unhealthy busy. Believe it or not, whichever one we pick for our family affects our children’s spiritual growth. 

As the keeper of our family calendar, I found this out firsthand.

“Healthy” busy for kids involves things that enrich their growth like regular doctor appointments, playdates with quality friends, music lessons, or participating in a sport. But when this “busy” squeezes out time for God, it becomes “unhealthy.” 

The National Institute of Health estimates that the average adolescent spends 7.9 hours in extracurricular activities per week; 9.1 hours per week doing homework, and 2.5 evenings per week with peers. That’s on top of their full six-to-eight-hour school day. Consequently, a plethora of extracurricular activities — sometimes happening simultaneously — along with overflowing social commitments often take priority in our children’s calendar. When this happens, engaging our children in the Bible, praying, and attending church is often demoted to an afterthought.

How did we let our kids’ schedules get so packed? 

Well, don’t beat yourself up too much. Our culture thrives on being busy. It’s become a badge of honor. Unknowingly, families are swept up in overflowing schedules. We may have good intentions, but like everything else in parenting, we have to be strategic if we want to ensure the intentionality of family time discipleship. It’s vital to consistently make sure our children are learning about God and the Bible and investing in growing their faith. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14) So, how can we ensure this happens?

As parents, we need to teach and model how to use the gift of time well. 

If you are like me, every opportunity feels important. So, I end up saying yes to everything. Consequently, my family suffers with very little margin, and our good intentions take a back seat to the urgent. Stephen Covey, the acclaimed author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, says, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

When our boys were young, my husband and I realized that time goes by quickly and you can’t get it back. We found that unless we were intentional with our time, our boys’ discipleship wouldn’t happen. So we decided to implement a calendar litmus test involving a series of questions to guard our family’s calendar, keeping God as our greatest priority. We evaluated any opportunity for our calendar by using The Good, Better, Best Calendar Test — a tool that we found invaluable in our decision-making.

When an opportunity arose we would say, “It’s good, but what is better, and what is best for our child and for our family?” We would only put on the calendar what we deemed “best” for our children, even if that meant saying “no” to good things. We called these hard decisions for the benefit of our child a “good no.” This test made us prioritize well. In some seasons, our calendars would get too full, and we would need to self-correct with our “good nos.”

Good, Better, Best Calendar Test Questions

Here are some things my husband and I considered in our test of prospective calendar activities:

• Will this activity help them grow in their walk with God?

• Will this activity cultivate edifying friendships? 

• Are healthy role models involved in this activity?

• Does it disrupt scheduled family Bible reading or prayer time?

• Does this align with the season our family is in?

Helping kids prioritize time spent with God in their schedule is not only best, it is biblical! Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Keeping your calendar aligned with the Bible means you, the adult, need to pull yourself up above the chaos and set your sights on a healthy, spirit-filled perspective of your family’s calendar and spiritual goals. 

Most of the opportunities that vie for a slot on your family’s calendar are good, but what is better, and what is BEST for your child and for your family? Only you can be the judge of that. My prayer is that you use these sample questions as a starting point. I encourage you to sit down with your spouse and determine what is BEST for your family right now, and create your own list of questions!