Family organization and communication tool

A computer based method of managing, scheduling, and sharing information among parents and children of blended families, comprising:

• at a computer server system coupled to a network, defining a set of at least two parents for each of said at least one child of said blended family, who are permitted to have commitments regarding said at least one child, and wherein there is at least one parent of said set of parents assigned to at least one commitment for each of said at least one child for each day of the week for an indicated time period;
• accepting from at least one authorized user, including authorized users other than said set of parents via a first computing device including at least one processor communicatively coupled to said server system over said network, information relating to commitments of said set of parents;
• storing, at a computer readable medium coupled to said server system, information relating to said commitments of said set of parents, including at least date information for each of said commitments;
• generating and providing, to a user through a display coupled to a second computing device communicatively coupled to said server system over said network a web page, said web page including a visual representation of an access schedule, wherein said access schedule is based on said information stored relating to said commitments, said access schedule including at least one indication of which parent of said set of parents has a commitment regarding at least one child of said blended family for each day of the week for said indicated time period;
• generating and providing, to a user, including authorized users other than said set of parents, through the display, at least one user un-modifiable indication of a last time each parent of said set of parents accessed said access schedule by providing on the web page an indication of the last date and time each user viewed the web page;
• generating and providing to a first parent through a display coupled to a computing device communicatively coupled to said server system over said network a request form presenting at least one second parent of said set of parents and enabling said first parent to electronically request from said second parent a proposed swap of one or more commitments initially assigned to said first parent for one or more commitments initially assigned to said other, second parent, said providing said request form including:
• generating and providing a parent selection field arranged such that said first parent is provided an ability to electronically select at least one of said second parent of said set of parents to request said proposed swap from;
• generating and providing a date designation field arranged such that said first user is provided an ability to electronically select one or more proposed dates of said one or more commitments of said first parent on which said proposed swap of the day-based obligatory commitment assigned to said second parent is desired;
• generating and providing a trade indication field providing said first parent an ability to indicate an offer to trade for one or more day-based obligatory commitments initially assigned to said first parent;
• generating and providing a respond by field arranged such that said first parent is provided an ability to electronically input a date so as to indicate a time period for which said request for said proposed swap is valid;
• causing information input through said request form to be processed so as to determine whether any scheduling conflicts based on said information stored relating to said commitments have been or will be caused by said proposed swap by comparing said information input through said request form to information stored relating to said commitment;
• if a scheduling conflict exists, providing to said first parent through a display coupled to a computing device communicatively coupled to said server system over said network an indication of said conflict;
• if a scheduling conflict does not exist, causing said information input through said request form to be processed in order to provide to a user through a display coupled to a computing device communicatively coupled to said server system over said network an indication on said access schedule of said request, wherein said indication is provided as a selectable icon associated with one or more dates on said access schedule such that user selection of said selectable icon provides a user with details of said proposed swap;
• upon receiving said first parent selection to submit said proposed swap, providing to other users through a second display coupled to a computing device communicatively coupled to said server system over said network a web page that includes a visual representation of said access schedule updated to include said proposed swap;
• monitoring said proposed swap using said server system via said updated access schedule and allowing said second parent to accept or reject said proposed swap only during said time period for which said request for said proposed swap is valid;
• providing a status indication to said first parent indicating whether or not said second parent has viewed said proposed swap;
• and
• upon receiving an indication of said second parent to accept said proposed swap, causing said server system to automatically update said access schedule and publishing said access schedule through a display coupled to a computing device communicatively coupled to a computing device over said network a web page that includes a visual representation of said access schedule and reflecting on said access schedule that said first parent is responsible for said one or more commitments initially assigned to said other, second parent as indicated in said proposed swap and said second parent is responsible for said one or more commitments initially assigned to said first parent as indicated in said proposed swap.

A computer implemented method comprising:

• storing a schedule on a computer readable storage device for a child defining periods the child is scheduled to spend with each of two parents;
• providing access to the schedule to each parent via networked computing devices;
• providing a swap form to facilitate selection of two different proposed periods to swap between the parents by one parent;
• providing the selected proposed periods to swap by one parent to the other parent as a schedule swap;
• allowing the other parent to accept the schedule swap;
• and
• changing the stored schedule of the child to reflect the swap of periods when accepted by the other parent, wherein access to the schedule and the swap form are presented to the parents and an authorized third party user as web pages with time stamps representative of the last time the web pages were viewed by each parent, wherein the computer tracks when the web pages was provided to the other parent, and wherein the web pages provide at least one user un-modifiable indication of a last time each parent of said set of parents accessed said access schedule.