The Back To School Morning Rush
|
||||||||||
| Printer Friendly Story View |
Back-To-School Can Be Stressful, If You Don't Organize & Prioritize!
This time of year, parents seem to dread and look forward to the Back-To-School routine. Parents of school-age kids can use all the help and advice they can get to make the transition a bit easier on everyone. Going from a laid-back summer to a hectic back-to-school schedule is challenging for most households. What can parents do to make the transition a smooth one?
Regardless of how well-prepared you and your child are, the first weeks of school will most likely put you all in a tailspin. New friends, experiences, sports activities and classes are exciting and yet, can cause stress, as well. Being well prepared for the transition can certainly cut down on some of the stress.
One of the most important challenges to getting back into the routine is attacking the "Bedtime Blues" head-on! Gradually bring bedtime back into perspective with what it should be on school nights and always make sure your kids are getting enough sleep (at least 9-10 hours for elementary school kids, according to one of the National Institutes of Health, and 8-9 for high school kids, according to sleep experts).
Also getting back to regular "sit-down" mealtimes if they've changed over the summer is a very important step to continued communication with your children. Take the time to pull out the crock pot if your schedule no longer allows you to simply fire up the grill, but ensure that your preparing a nightly meal and sitting down to eat it with your family each and every night. This "sit-down" step is one of the most important steps you can do for your family. It is not so much about the preparation of the meal as it is the communication during the consumption! For us, this time of year makes that step difficult to say the least. With after school activities such as homework, choir and football practice, which does not end until 7:30p.m., taking the time, at that time, to sit down with my boys and eat, is a challenge, but I always make sure to do so, even if I have already "snacked" in the kitchen earlier while preparing the meal.
An important key that can be an attribute to your child's comprehension and attention span throughout the school year is encouraging your kids to get back in the habit of reading every day if they have slacked off in the summer. Encourage them to grab a book and head out in a favorite chair to read and enjoy the fall season on the weekends. Just take a breath, make the time to take a break and read a book with your children, if they are younger, read to them, if they are older, grab a book and read with them. For me, that is my time to relax with a Better Homes & Garden or a Simple & Delicious book and grab recipes for the week. You just may find it helps them academically and you in the kitchen, more than you could have imagined during this new school year journey.
Another way to smooth the transition is by understanding what your children expect to be faced with so you can deal with it. Kids put a lot of energy into starting a new year, trying to understand new routines, meeting new expectations, and wondering about new and old friendships. Some kids may be more tired, some more hungry, and some more wired than usual after school. Whatever your child usually is, expect more of it during the beginning of school while they make this transition. Realistically, though, each time kids have a break from school whether it is a weekend, a vacation or a break on the alternative school calendar, they experience a scheduling transition that can be a challenge for your entire household. Your understanding of this and assistance in getting through it will mean a lot to your child and ... your sanity!
Make the "occasion" of heading back to school one that they will remember as a "fun time", not a hectic one. This is the time of year when you as a parent have the opportunity to "go the extra mile" and make memories with your children. Even something simple like banana splits or that favorite fall project as part of an annual Back-to-School routine, will make a lasting impression on your children and something they will remember forever. Our annual routine includes making Lasagna the night before the first day of school, preparing fresh salsa from the garden and comparing pictures of previous school years to recent summer pictures, and talking about how much they have grown and changed. This summer in particular, was a milestone of change for my oldest son Logan, who quickly not only approached my height, but towered beyond it by two inches! We laughed until we cried comparing pictures this year from his growth to tooth loss of my youngest, to my middle child's attempt at camping in the backyard! It's simply amazing to sit down and take the time to actually look at those changes at least three times per year with your children. It not only builds their inner confidence to see those changes firsthand, but makes a lasting photogenic impression of milestones that sometimes pass us by in our busy lives.
Other tips I have utilized over the years include putting a shoe organizer near the entry door, label clothing drawers, give each child their own laundry bin, play motivational morning music to get them going, add a banana or peach and some ice into the blender with that glass of morning milk and make a healthy smoothie, order a pizza and freeze individual pieces in Ziploc bags for after school snacks, pick outfits the night before, throw wrinkled clothing in the dryer for ten minutes to avoid timely ironing, try the "first one dressed picks breakfast" game, give 5 minute warnings in the morning, use color coded calendars for chores, don't forget to put the library books in their backpacks each night to avoid loss, damage or late fees, have one child shower the night before (usually the younger ones fall for this as the "teenage perfect hair rage" has not yet set in), pack their "sports practice" bags and load them in the car at night, pack inspirational notes in their lunchbox, get a 3-ring binder for yourself to keep school papers from the school year neat and off the refrigerator, prepare your meal for the next evening so all you have to do is turn it on (crock-pot) or heat it up and lastly, don't forget to set the alarm!
MARLO MESSIPIE: Lunchbox Fruit Roll-Up
While your child would no doubt enjoy diving into a meal of sticky sweet fruit leather, this guilt-free version offers nutrients and energy to keep him or her going for the second half of the school day.
Spread sugar-free blueberry or strawberry-flavored cream cheese on a whole-wheat tortilla wrap. If you cannot find sugar free "flavored" cream cheese, buy plain cream cheese and add a teaspoon of sugar-free jam or glaze to flavor. Top with fresh blueberries or sliced strawberries and roll tortilla.
Sides:
Small container of hummus or cream cheese. Try taking fresh veggies of your child's liking, shredding them and making your own fresh vegetable cream cheese spread!
Serve with celery sticks, bagel chips, sliced cucumbers, carrots, whatever your child prefers for dipping
If your child does not like cream cheese, try taking plain yogurt and strain it in cheesecloth or a coffee filter the night before. Note: Avoid Vanilla yogurt, be sure to purchase plain, the point here is to avoid processed sugars. Add blended fresh fruit (and the juice blending creates) to the yogurt, mix and pack for dipping! Serve with fresh cut fruit of their choice!
In this case, you can also substitute the "fruit" in the roll up and make it savory with the fresh vegetable cream cheese spread!
For yourself, take some time alone to take a pause in your hectic daily routine and reflect on all you have done to bring your children to this place in time. Every meal prepared and shared, every celebration enjoyed, every stinky football cleat restored to "new", every ounce of encouragement and praise given, every boo-boo "band-aided", every load of laundry done, every moment of redirection handed out, every bedtime story read, every fear comforted and resolved. The list goes on and on, just remind yourself as a parent, that these parental "tasks", have brought your children further along the path of becoming all that he or she can be. Congratulate yourself for all you have done and most importantly, thank those who help you do it such as a grandparent, step-mom or dad/ex, bus driver, friend or neighbor, whomever helps you and your children with your back-to-school routine and/or shares in the raising of them, deserves a "thanking" and there's no better time of year to say "thank you" ... THANK YOU!
| Printer Friendly Story View |
|
|
MyBayCity Staff |
|
|
|
Printer-Friendly Story View
0200 Nd: 04-15-2024 d 4 cpr 0
12/31/2020 P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm
SPONSORED LINKS
12/31/2020 drop ads P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm