4 Tips for Parents to Get Into Back to School Mode
It’s the end of July and here we are, already preparing for back-to-school. It’s a time that almost every mother—especially stay-at-home-moms— are rejoicing. We finally get our house back. I don’t know about you but my grocery bill has gone up and I finally just gave up on cleaning my house. I mean, what’s the point?
In the coming weeks, all of that will change. I will have order and structure once again. Over the summer I honestly just let my kids run wild. No naps, no real bedtime and the obscene amount of time they’ve been on their electronics—y’all need to take my mom card away. This morning my son woke up and said, “Hey mom guess what? I had a dream about sonic the hedgehog…” as he was talking, I pretty much spaced out—I’m so tired of hearing about that little blue creature. I stopped him mid-sentence and said Ev, you start school in two weeks so today we will start preparing. He basically looked at me as if I said I was going to take all his games away and throw them in the trash. I’m really kicking myself because I should have started preparing him, or better yet, kept him on a schedule all summer. But I didn’t.
So let’s start now. Here are a few things I’m doing to get OUR mind right for school:
Introduce a routine —Ok, as I said, my kids have pretty much been falling asleep anywhere and at whatever time. For your sanity and mine, let’s get them back on schedule. During the school year, my kids eat at 5:30pm, take a bath at 7pm, and head to bed at 8pm. Yes, I run a tight ship when I’m on it. I will definitely be earning back that mom card, y’all.
Review school material — Before you turn on the TV or give them their tablets and gaming device, have them do some stimulating work. Today I went online and printed out a few worksheets in math, reading, and science. Honestly, since his head has been in a screen all summer, I started off by doing some Kindergarten review and then we moved into first grade work since he will be a big first grader this year.
Turn off the TV — Now, excuse me while I go turn ours off. It’s going to be a shock to them once school starts when you go cold turkey and say no TV, it’s homework time. So if you’re like me and can’t mentally deal with the teeth sucking, stomping and the “awww man,” you should start this now. Get them used to not seeing their favorite show at 4:00 in the afternoon. Again, establish that routine. It’s back to school time kids. (Sips wine)
Back-to-school shopping —Bring them shopping with you. I know that may sound crazy, but it might actually get them excited. (Warning: It might also backfire.) I’m going to bring my two shopping with me so they can pick out their own school backpacks, lunch boxes, and supplies. Mine are still so young that they love to be involved. I can’t promise it will work with teenagers.
I hope this list helps you jump start your back-to-school preparation. The countdown has started, y’all.
