Five Tips for Nervous Moms with Children Starting School for the First Time
It is hard for moms to believe that they are getting ready to start the school year for their kids, the very first time as the feeling that their kids will be beginning their first year of preschool or kindergarten makes them excited and nervous. This happens especially when fall and school season is fast approaching. In any case, to get the most out of starting school for your kids for the first time, here are a few tips for staying organized during the most stressful parts of you day.
Plan Ahead
Much of the stress in our lives can be avoided if we can plan ahead, and this is the case with returning to school. Usually, the school will send you a list of what will be needed for the next school year and it is important to get all of the required items, as well as sever back-ups for later during the year.
Take advantage of all those back to school sales with the huge bins of notebooks, loose leaf paper, and pencils, and stock up! Designate a spot in your home, accessible to the children, for storing all of your backup supplies. Be sure to check your local dollar store a well for the pricier items that your child will need to get started for the year. You will be very grateful when the spring rolls and you do not have to make another trip to the store and pay higher prices for the same items later in the year.
Next, label, label, label…
Everything will need to have your child’s name on it, and you will be glad that you labeled your child’s items when another child accidently brings them home. You can write your child’s name in permanent marker on belongings such as backpacks, lunch boxes, gym shoes, and other fabric items. For notebooks, pencil totes, and books it might be a good investment to purchase a rubber stamp with their information on it, or buy address labels.
Be sure not to miss your child’s Back to School night and introduce yourself to their teacher. Be involved in any capacity that you can whether it is room mother, volunteer, chaperone, or just to help out on those field trips. Not only will your child be grateful, but you can establish a relationship with the teacher and open the doors of communication. Remember that if you do not have a wonderful first impression of the teacher to reserve this information around your child. Your negativity can rub off on them and immediately start the year on the wrong foot.
Clothes Wars & Other Battles
Invest in a five compartment sweater organizer and use the top one for Monday, the second one for Tuesday, and so on. On Sunday evening have your child help you plan the clothing for the week. Preset everything down to underwear, socks, barrettes, whatever you can do to help make their morning easier. Pre-set combs, brushes, toothbrush, towels, and toothpaste so you can quickly get ready in the morning without you getting everything out for them.
Be sure to have purses, briefcases, coats, and backpacks waiting at the door ready to go for you so that you don’t have to rush around getting everything together in the morning. You will be grateful when you don’t have to spend twenty minutes looking for that one paper of your keys when you are already rushed to get where you need to go.
Meals
Much can be said about meal planning, not only for your hectic morning, but also lunch preparation can be particularly cumbersome when you are trying to get your children to school on time.
Instead of buying these, look for foods that are nutritious and which will offer our child the nutrients they need for energy to get through their school day. Buy large packages of crackers, cheese, milk or juice, carrots, celery, and other healthy foods and start by dividing these large packages into small lunch-size portions in baggies. Keep these baggies in a Tupperware container and then just grab them and drop them in lunch boxes in the morning. Have a variety of foods on hand such as fruits, whole grain cereals, whole grain bagels, and other healthy foods that your children can prepare for themselves.
If you are feeling extra motivated, you could even prepare large batches of French toast, waffles, or pancakes, and then freeze them in individual portions for your child to zap in the microwave in the morning.
Preset your table with silverware, bowls, and plates the night before. Place cereal and other breakfast items on the table where they are accessible to your child to help prepare their breakfast in the morning. Also, make sure that your dishwasher is empty the night before so that you can immediately move breakfast dishes to the dishwasher, avoiding a sink full of dishes to come home to after your busy morning.
Papers, Papers, and More Papers
The beauty of your children’s craft projects from school will wear off if you are saving every single picture and drawing that they have done. Save yourself loads of clutter by allowing your child to help you pick their favorite projects for saving.
Invest in a couple of inexpensive frames for their bedroom and reframe these periodically with their beautiful artwork or choose one picture for the refrigerator on front of one of your cupboards for saving. By allowing your child to help you choose, they learn the importance of weeding out paperwork. It is also smart to create an area in your file cabinet or a plastic file crate for your child’s papers and report cards.
