Carpool sign-up sheet

One slot per run

Make every trip its own slot. "Mon drop-off" and "Mon pick-up" are two jobs, and plenty of parents can do one but not the other. For practice or lessons, use the session: "Tue swim, 5:30pm pick-up".

Each slot holds one driver. When it is taken, it shows as taken, and nobody turns up at the school gate to find another parent already there.

Splitting it fairly

Count the runs in a week and the families in the group. Ten school runs between four families means two or three each. Say the number in the sheet description and set a per-person limit to match, so the parent who works from home is not quietly doing half.

For a season of practices, set it up a month at a time. People can commit to four weeks. Fewer will commit to a whole term.

What every driver needs

Put these in the description so they are one tap away:

• Each child's name, school or venue, and pickup spot
• Car seat or booster needs for each child
• A phone number for each family, shared with drivers only
• What happens if practice runs late

Booster seat rules vary by place, so check the ones where you live rather than guessing. If a child cannot ride with a certain driver, handle that privately. It does not belong on a shared sheet.

Changes and reminders

Plans change. A sick toddler, a work trip, a flat tire. The driver who cannot make a run should be able to drop it without a round of texts. On Dibs, each driver has a link to cancel or move to another run, and the next person on the waitlist for that slot gets an email.

A reminder the evening before each run is the most useful message a carpool gets. Dibs sends it by email to that run's driver.

A ready list

The starter text above is one school week of drop-offs and pick-ups. Paste it into Dibs and each line becomes a single-driver slot. Rename the lines for your schedule, add the car seat notes to the description, and share it with the group. Parents claim runs from their phone with no account, and you can print the week for the fridge.