Recent article by Patty Salam as it appeared in
an issue of Lone Tree Magazine
Are you anxious for the kids to go back to school? Summer goes by all too quickly for kids, but much too slowly for the moms that have to keep them entertained.
On one hand, having a few minutes to call your own again will be wonderful, but are you looking forward to the morning battles over what your child has picked to wear to school. My youngest daughter went through a stage during which she always put her shoes on the wrong feet. Or how about the mad rush to find the paper that must be signed for that Field Trip today? Well, that’s life with school age children. My children are grown now, but believe me I don’t miss the dramatics of school mornings! There are lots of organizing ideas that can help you smooth the process and make mornings (and afternoons) much less stressful.
Back to school? Here are some helpful tips to make this school year go a little more smoothly. .
Do you remember Kindergarten? In Kindergarten everything is labeled and everyone puts things back in the appropriate place when the project is finished. You can do this too!
Back to school is a great time to set some processes in place. It only takes 3 weeks to make or break a habit so the sooner you and your family gets started, the easier it will become.
Get a 3-ring binder-2” is plenty big enough. Find that hole punch that you got on a whim one time and have rarely used. As all those papers come in about attendance, holidays, supplies etc, put them in the binder. If you don’t have a hole punch, plastic sleeves work just as well. You will be so happy when you no longer need to look for each little piece of paper. Now if you can just remember what you did with that darn binder! Check your binder occasionally to remove and throw away those things that become outdated while you weren’t looking.
Next set up a “drop off” system. For each child, use baskets, trays, tubs-whatever you have. Even old metal cake pans will do. You can paint them a different color for each child. When the kids come home from school, have them put their stuff in their bin. When it’s time to start on homework, it will all be in the same place and maybe a permission slip that might have gone unnoticed will surface too. When that happens you will have saved all the time you used setting up the system and every time it happens you will save more and more time. If there isn’t counter space, think about going up the wall. (Not you, just the organizing stuff.) That pertains to anything you need to store always think of vertical space-we have a lot of it!
I read a statistic that one child will bring home 50,000 pieces of paper K-6th!!!! Boy I hope that’s wrong, but it can’t be much of an exaggeration. You cannot save everything. Start a memory box for those special papers or drawings. What makes them special? Ask yourself some of the following questions. Would you frame it and put it on the wall? Can you look to the future and see your child looking at these papers with their own child? Is this something for which the child is especially proud? Spelling papers and arithmetic practices probably don’t need to go into the box.
So many children have back packs that it is especially necessary for the child to know exactly where to put his or her backpack. Far too many school busses were missed because a child could not find that back pack and “I know I didn’t put it there! Somebody moved it!” Having that definite place will smooth these problems as well.
Is morning the most chaotic time? It is in most households. There are simple things to do that will take very little time the night before, but will be a blessing in the mad rush of morning!
Program the coffee pot so you can wake up to fresh coffee!
Pick out tomorrows outfit the night before
Make lunches the night before.
Make sure that the finished homework is in the appropriate basket.
Did you know that the main purpose of organization is to save Time. If it means fewer “meltdowns, that’s even better. Don’t ever forget that Time is your only irreplaceable resource. Read that again. Time is your ONLY irreplaceable resource. You can’t get it back and there is no substitute. Organizing is for the express purpose of saving, hoarding, and using wisely, this most precious commodity. Getting organized is the secret to finding the time to get the joy back into your life.
I wish you much joy as a result of your organizing.
