If your family is anything like mine, then back to school also means back to your regularly scheduled lives. I have soccer for one kid, gymnastics for another, another who does drama, and one another in Tae Kwon Do. I am not playing around here, life can get busy! Here are three tips that may help you keep your sanity, your kids keep theirs, and even give your family a little quality time together:
- Have a bedtime that is as close to the same time as possible during the weeknights. It really helps them wake up in the morning if they are not too tired.
(My daughters are freaking masterminds at stretching their bedtimes out for as loooong as humanly possible.) Be a bedtime ninja yourself and start their bedtime routine 15 minutes before the clock strikes BEDTIME. Give a lot of warnings that it is coming and coming soon! - Get your homework done before they head to their extracurricular activity.
This can be difficult because sometimes they don’t get much of a break from school before they have to head out again. I have even had my daughter do hers in the car on the way. This beats trying to complete it late at night when it is the LAST thing they want to do. We have a teacher this year that lets everything be turned in on Fridays, this way we can do homework on our off days and focus on extracurriculars on the busy days. This is something you can ask your teacher about also. They are often understanding. - Have dinner together and TALK. Ask what-if questions. Ask what was the best, funniest, worst, weirdest, etc., part of your day today questions. It really matters that you care about what they have to say, and you may even get to share about yours!
I know sometimes, depending on your child(rens) ages, dinner can seriously suck and deplete the life-force out of you. I have a hard rule that if you complain about the food at dinner – you don’t get to participate in our family Friday movie. Look, you don’t have to eat it, you don’t have to like it, but it certainly isn’t good manners to say “EW!” and “YUCK!” before the food touches your taste buds, eh? And who knows, when you try it, you might like, and I might even want to know what you think of it. Friday movies are a really fun reward!
May your school days be blessed and your daily routines peaceful! You’ve got this!