I have two kids in school this year. Add another item to The List Of Things That Happen Too Fast. My oldest is in second grade and my middle started Pre-Kindergarten, and they are both at the same school. Little boy won’t be far behind. Despite the urge to keep them all little for as long as humanly possible, I am excited to be transitioning to that “school age” phase.
This transition is not without peril, though. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote
a post
poking a little fun at the work involved in going back to school. Supplies, forms, clothes, shoes, lunch packing, and bedtimes all need to be handled before the first day of school. I, personally, started getting my act together in July then dropped everything until the night before school started in August and ran around like a crazy person. Par for the course.
As I frequently do, I asked myself, “Self, how can I make this school year great (without making myself crazy)?”
I came up with a few ideas to get us all through the school year without losing our minds.
- I will be a better planner. Sounds easy enough, right? I’ll get a calendar and write everything down and make sure I consult my calendar frequently so that things like buying 12 boxes of cookies from the fundraiser the night before it’s due or forgetting picture day and sending my kid to school in the loudest possible outfit don’t happen again.
- I will enforce a strict schedule. My kids don’t find schedules nearly as useful as I do, and in fact, sabotage them as often as humanly possible. I know that an 8 PM bedtime makes them feel like their life is ruined forever, but I’m pretty sure it makes my life better, so I win. Surely, as lord and drill sergeant over them, they are learning valuable time management skills.
- I will turn off social media. I can assure you that nothing THAT interesting happens on social media between the hours of 5 and 8 PM. Or at least nothing that can’t wait until after the kids go to bed.
- TV OFF! No TV after supper. I’m tired of losing face time to Mickey Mouse, even if he IS more entertaining.
I could probably think of more, but let’s be realistic, I’m only going to succeed at half of these. I’m no hero.
So let’s toast to our new-found resolve to get these kids out on the right foot! Let’s toast to our ability to be the best parents we can be.
Eh, who am I kidding? Meet back here in January and we’ll reevaluate our enthusiasm.
