Getting My Back-to-school Act Together

Hey, girlfriends. You know what month it is?  That's right, it's August and we all know what that means.  Am I the only one that gets a small kick in my gut when I hear the word "August"? 

See if you can follow this simple math problem:
August = back-to-school. 
Back-to-school = 5 alarm clocks + 3 daily lunches + infinite homework. 
Therefore, August = 1 Stressed Mom

To raise my blood pressure even more, mix in the fact that I am going back to work full time in September.  I'm filling my final summer days reading organizational blogs and making meal calendars, baby!

Here are some of my favorite tips I thought I'd pass along to my stressed out sistas....
Tip #1 Family Meeting
Get your family together every Sunday night to go over the coming week's calendar.  Remind your kids of expectations regarding chores, homework, and relationships with each other. End your time together sharing best and worst from the week, gratitude and blessing each other. 

Tip #2 Emeals
Dave Ramsey and Focus on the Family endorse an app called "emeals".  I've downloaded it to my phone and can also access it on my computer.  It provides weekly meal plans, easy prep and a master grocery list.  Every mom's best friend!

Tip #3 Delegate
Before the first school day, have your kids make their own morning and evening to do list.  My son writes his morning checklist in dry erase markers on his bathroom mirror.  We have afternoon checklists downstairs in the kitchen.  It saves me a lot of nagging!

Tip #4 Calendar QT
Fall schedules fill up quickly and all that great family time from summer is soon a distant memory.  Go ahead and schedule parent/child dates on the calendar to make sure you stay connected.  Back-to-school brings lots of stress on kids - new teachers, increased homework load as they get older, changing friendships, etc.  When we carve out quality time it demonstrates to our children that we genuinely care.

Tip #5 The Night Before
Every Sunday the kids select their five outfits for school the coming week.  Then, each night they make their lunches (if your kids aren't making their own lunches yet get them moving in that direction).  Breakfast is already planned and backpacks are locked and loaded. Pretend you're a fireman and you've got to be ready to go when that alarm goes off!

Let's face it, stuff is going to come up that we cannot control but by golly, control what you can! Back-to-school does not have to mean we all lose our minds.  With a few simple tips and good communication we can ease back into a routine with peace and keep our blood pressure regulated without medication.  Come on, girls, you've got this.