The Kids Are Back To School, Now What?
Now that the kids are back to school, moms get to embrace their own fresh start. We can revisit evaluate what matters most to us and set new goals for the school year.
I like to view the beginning of every school year as a fresh start – a clean slate of sorts!
When our kids go back to school, many of us moms get the opportunity to revisit our own priorities.
We get to consider how we really want to spend the 180 days or so we have that our kids are in school.
I realize that not everyone who reads this will be a stay-at-home mom.
I know many of you are full-time, working moms, and I admire you ladies!
These suggestions are definitely applicable to all of us at one point or another.
Here we go.
Enjoy the quiet!
You heard me.
Give yourself time to breathe and enjoy some downtime.
There’s no shame in spending a little bit of time the first day or two that your kids are in school binge-watching your favorite show!
Maybe you have a book on your shelf that you want to finish.
Summers are hard.
Heck, the whole last year and a half or so delivered us a whole new kind of hard!
Introvert moms, especially, need to relish the quiet!
Pace Yourself!
All those things that were on your summer to-do list that you didn’t get to don’t have to be done this week!
Take a few minutes, as you enjoy the quiet, to complete a brain dump.
What projects are still incomplete?
Are there goals you’d like to accomplish with the 180 days the kids are in school?
Do you have morning or evening routines that need to be tweaked for the school year?
Here’s the thing – all these items on your list don’t have to be accomplished by the end of August!
As you’re making your brain dump, assign some loose deadlines to the items on your paper.
Find you some people!
After spending so much time isolated recently, it’s important that we place some priority on our relationships with others.
Even if you’re still hesitant to meet with people in person, schedule some zoom dates or facetime sessions with your friends.
Join a MOPS type group.
Volunteer with the PTO.
Find a Bible Study or Book Club group.
Ask a new friend to join you for coffee.
We need like-minded people in our lives!
I know making friends and keeping friends is work.
Yet, it’s effort and time well spent and necessary for our emotional wellbeing!
Amazingly appropriate, Jennie Allen’s book “Find Your People” is available for pre-sale.
Anyone want to start a book club?
Pursue A Passion!
As moms, our passions disappear somewhere between ceaseless diaper changing and soccer carpools!
If Dora The Explorer could share a little bit of her passion with us, we could conquer the world, right?
Do you know when I started my organizing business?
The day all 4 of my kids were finally in school, on the same schedule.
You may not want to start a business.
Maybe you want to learn to sew or volunteer at the animal shelter.
You may want to get certified to teach Pilates or Yoga.
When the kids are out of the house for 7 1/2 hours a day, it’s a great opportunity to learn something new!
Stop waiting for the right time to start.
There will always be something keeping us from doing that thing we’ve always wanted to do.
Get Dressed Every Day!
I know this sounds really silly and quite elementary, but there’s something powerful about getting ourselves physically ready every day that increases our productivity.
Putting on real clothes signals to our minds that we are ready to take action – we’re ready to get things done!
Getting dressed is a form of self-care.
Want to change your mood instantly? Put on an outfit that makes you feel good!
In a period of time when so many things are unknown and feel out of our control, taking care of our bodies every day by showering, brushing our teeth, and getting out of our pajamas is one way we can control the tone of our days.
Also, should some emergency arise and we have to head out the door to our kids’ school to deliver a lunch box or pick up a child who has been sentenced to quarantine, being dressed gives us a head start!
Create New Routines!
Obviously, the kids going back to school naturally creates a new routine.
Within the context of this schedule change, you can establish morning and evening routines that increase efficiency and productivity.
We can make use of a cleaning schedule so that some area of our homes gets our attention regularly.
Search Cleaning Routine on Pinterest or Google and all sorts of printables and plans will appear!
You could even designate a day of the week as your personal day – the day you meet friends for coffee or lunch or make your hair appointments and get your nails done.
Another new routine you could add into the mix is meal prepping and cooking ahead.
Routines, even those that are loosely kept, increase our productivity and keep us on track!
Restore Order to Your House!
I don’t know about you, but there are places in my house that look like a summer long frat party took place and no one even attempted to clean up the evidence.
More than like we have closets and cupboards that need our attention.
Many of these organizing tasks can easily be accomplished while the kids are at school.
Our dump list should include all of these organizational goals we want to get done while we’re home alone.
Set out to declutter one or two small areas in your home each week.
Start with a drawer and then move onto paper piles and expired food in the pantry.
As you work your way around your house and gain momentum, you’ll be decluttering and organizing in your sleep!
Let’s learn to rest, but let’s also not waste this precious time we have while our kids are at school!
PIN FOR LATER!
Danielle
August 13, 2021 at 10:21 AMThese are such great tips! Personally, I’ve always been so busy that I’ve never felt like I had time on my hands. However, I would often schedule a self-care day the first week back to school! I know a lot of moms who find themselves with extra time, and this is so helpful!
Jen Wade
August 13, 2021 at 9:39 PMI’m the same way! I have to force myself to take time for myself and make time to hang out with friends.