There have been many articles and parenting tips "out there" recently helping parents to prepare their children for the start of school. As I read through them I find that they give great tips for kids, but none of them have specifically dealt with parents' needs for gearing up once again for another school year.

Summertime has meant a lot of different things to different families. Some have totally kicked back and let each day unfold and bring what it may. Some have spent the summer fitting in as many camps and activities as they can. Some have rarely been home because this is their chance to travel and explore, while others have been just as busy as ever because their worklife demands it. What everyone has in common though, is the need to adjust back into the "school routine".

Many experts advocate that you begin preparing your children for the new routine well before school starts. This means earlier bedtimes, getting dressed earlier in the morning, and eating breakfast soon after waking. This is great advice. Children shouldn't be expected to be organized and ready to start a new routine overnight, and neither should parents.

None of us who are parents, need to be told that, "what affects our children affects us also", so we need to make some of these same adjustments to our schedule. The best way to prepare yourself is to look back at the last school year and assess what went smoothly and what didn't. Whatever was a source of stress for you, try to find a different way to go about it. Some challenges that parents face are:

1. Getting the children to dress themselves and organize their "stuff"

This is where the "night before" organization comes in handy. Children can choose their clothes the night before and pack their backpacks with what they will need to take with them the next day. Sometimes though, even this is not enough to motivate the child to get dressed in a timely manner. Some children just like to dawdle and take their sweet time, in this instance, a "to-do" list or chart can be helpful. List what the child needs to have done in order to get out of the house on time. For example: Get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair, eat breakfast, pack lunch, ect. As the child completes each task they can put a check next to it and move onto the next task. This gives kids a visual cue to how much there is left to do before they are ready to go.

2. Packing lunches

It is hard to pack lunches day after day and give our kids variety. Again, the night before preparation comes in handy. If we are just throwing a lunch together last minute, you can bet they are just going to get whatever we can get our hands on in 2 minutes. If we are not rushed we are more likely to pack healthier and varied foods. If you are trying to get your children to become responsible for their own lunches or at least help pack them, it may be helpful to organize the kitchen or pantry so that it facilitates this. For example on a shelf or in a drawer, you could have different containers holding similar groupings of foods. One container could hold healthy snacks, one could hold "dessert items" and children could be told to take 2 items from the healthy snacks and 1 item from the desserts each day along with their drink, fruit, and sandwich or entree. If your children like lists, you could again create a checklist for them which specifies what needs to get packed. Some parents like to make out menus ahead of time to ensure variety, and others know their children are happy with a bagel and apple every day. The point is to figure out a system that works for you.

3. After-school paper deluge and homework

This has become my biggest challenge. With 5 children in school, every day every child would bring home 1 to 5 pieces of paper (announcements, corrected homework, ect.), on average I would have 5 to 25 pieces of paper accumulate on my kitchen counter. This year I have invested in some magnetic wall pockets. Each child will have their own and all papers will go into them when they get home from school. After sorting through them, I will be able to decide what can get thrown, what needs to be returned (attach to the front of the pocket with a magnet, so it can be put into the backpack later) and what will be stored in the pocket for future reference. Any sort of filing system would serve you well so as not to lose important papers.
Homework really becomes a personal choice. Find a time when your child will be able to concentrate best and when you will be most available to help them if needed. For some this will be immediately after school, for others this will be after dinner when things have calmed down a bit, and for others it may be a combination of both. Some children and parents do better with small doses. Do a little, take a break and then come back to it later. Find a system that works for you and realize what may work for one child, may not work for another.

4. After school burn-out

Our calendars fill up so quickly with after-school activites, that it is easy to become burned-out. There are so many parents I see stressed and filled with guilt when it comes to children's extracurricular activities. We want to give our children every opportunity we can, so we sign them up for everything we can fit into our schedule. If we say no to any activity we are immediately filled with guilt that we are denying them some chance of a lifetime. Each of us is different. What constitutes a full schedule to one, may not be enough activity to another and vice versa. This is also true of our children. They may not agree with our idea of too many or too little extracurriculars. Tune into how they react when it is time to go to one activity to another. Are they complaining, complacent or thriving? Only you can judge what is working for your family.

With school fast approaching, there is not a lot of time left to prepare and organize ourselves. Sometimes picking only one or two areas we need to change is enough to make our days go more smoothly. If we try to change everything all at once, it may become overwhelming for us or our children and then our new plans do not get carried through. As parents, we often overlook ourselves when it comes to preparing for a new school year. Although it is highly unlikely someone will buy us a new Fall wardrobe or new office supplies, it is just as important to do what we can to start the new school year off on the right foot. Here's to a successful, stress-free and organized school year!

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