We are now in the middle of the first month of our kids being back to school. Some of us longed for the days when our kids would return to school so we could have some reprieve. However, sending our kids back to school comes with outside school responsibility and equally sending them back to all the activities we signed them up for!
Instead of getting the rest, and maybe a little mommy/daddy break, we are pulling ourselves out of bed through exhaustion in the early mornings to get the kids ready for school. In the late evenings, we are the Uber, the chef, the house manager, the thought partner, and the “team mom” to ensure all the kids are raised to at least standard, the “new” standard. Not to mention, many of us are working while we raise our offspring. The hustle is real and it is hard!
Based on what my network of parents in our community have reported, we are struggling to get back to the school and activity routine ourselves. In talking to so many parents in our community, many of us didn’t plan or transition from ending unscheduled summer days to routine school days. Some of us are still soaking up as many pool days as we can. However, we need to begin to think about making some adjustments to settle into a routine because our well-being has been affected.
If we were being honest with ourselves, many of us know what adjustments we need to make to be successful but have not implemented these adjustments, yet! Some of us, like myself, need to be reminded while others just need some encouragement to remember to think of ourselves to sustain parenting throughout the Fall and the upcoming holiday season because, yes, it is quickly approaching! Yikes!
Here are some tips to put your “oxygen mask on first” so that you can provide sustainable support to your family this Fall school season! These tips are parent-centered to aid you in thinking about how you can take care of yourself first because we often place ourselves last and stay on the “struggle bus” all school year.
- Use the evening before to prepare for the morning hustle
- Plan and layout what you need to wear first, then your child(ren)
- Plan and prep what you are going to eat for breakfast and lunch, then do this for your child(ren)
- Bring back the Instant Pots and the crockpots that were in style during the pandemic
- Let the crockpot do the work for you, especially on long days filled with activities
- The Instant Pot works wonders at making meals between 5-20 minutes
- Look up easy recipes online to use these magical devices
- Try using the crockpot and Instant Pot seasoning packets found at your local grocery stores
- Plan dinner for the week so you don’t nickel and dime your time with this task
- Determine which days of the week you will order out
- Determine which days of the week you will cook
- Use your calendar to determine what days cooking would be almost impossible and order out on those days
- Create a “phone-a-friend” list
- Identify other parents on the team or in the class that you could tap on when you need support for pick up or drop off
- Offer to swap tasks with other parents doing the same things like, pick up or drop off, take to the birthday party, watching the kids, play dates, etc etc.
- Calendars are your friends
- Whether it is on Google, on the wall, on the desk, or on your phone, use one!
- Set up an event for each activity you have first
- Set up downtime for yourself
- Next, set up regular occurring events for your child(ren) activities, include travel time, and add notifications to get alarms/reminders about the event
- If you have older kids, 5th grade and older, and they have a Google email, share the calendar with them so they can start learning how to manage their time
- Learn to say “no” and/or “I will be late” and get comfortable with doing this
- Sometimes our stress can be self-induced so pause when you are asked to do something, go somewhere, or commit to a task to determine if you really have the capacity
- If you are going to be late, don’t stress, just let someone know and be ok with being there late
- Drop stations and prep station
- Put your work bags and your child(ren)’s prepped backpacks by the door for easy access
- Set up the pantry with a lunch items station for easy grab-and-go and inventory monitoring
My last tip and most important one is to give yourself grace! You got this!
If you have any tips for our parent community that helped you get off the back-to-school “struggle bus” please share them at rachellen@macaronikid.com
