Ok, for many of you school begins very soon. But there’s still time to start reintroducing school schedules like bedtime and daily chores.
It is also time to sit down with your children and plan out their ‘new’, favorites for breakfasts, lunches and snacks. They can use their trips to the store for more than asking for gum and trinkets. They can help round up nutritious foods they enjoy, foods you’ll want on hand once school becomes a reality.
While you are moving back into the school routines think about instituting the ‘school place’ .This will enhance your return to routines and place more responsibility on the kids.
The school place is a spot near the door your kids use as they head out to school. It’s a crate, carpet square or whatever fits by the door and doesn’t cause a disruption to foot traffic. When kids come in from school, after they unload lunch bags, important papers and homework, they leave their backpacks there, ready for morning pick-up.
After family homework time ends, any homework is returned to the backpack before bedtime. In the morning before breakfast, any new notes to school as well as lunch and other inclusions (picture money, permission slips, library books, sharing items) are placed into the backpack. On the way out the door to school, the kids pick up their backpacks, kiss you good-bye and voila, the kids have taken care of their school work. Try it. It really works well and places responsibility squarely on the kids without causing a lot of fuss. Most of all, it eliminates last minute looking for items since everything is already packed.