When the back-to-school season is upon you, it may mean rush hour for some parents. While some schools may take a few weeks to resume, others may have already resumed. No matter where you live, having a student in your household can be really hectic.
It usually brings relief to some parents that their children are resuming school. With the kids gone, it would mean the house would become a lot quieter. For other parents, it can be a frantic situation, which they usually dread.
Autumn is one of the seasons that comes with a whole lot of stress and chaos. So I’ll be sharing with you some of the great ways in which you can cope with the stress. With these tips, you can make going back to school a whole lot easier. Once the little ones are gone, you can then have a little free time for yourself.
Most of these tips come from research gotten from cleaning professionals. According to these professionals, you can save yourself the stress by doing the following;
Begin Every New Academic Year With a Clean Slate
Doing your deep cleaning at this time might not really be the best of times. You could, however, re-organize and de-clutter your home. Get rid of the paper pile, do your laundry, and maybe even empty out your trip bags. The cleaner your house is, the easier it would be for you to clean it up.
If these tasks feel overwhelming, then you could hire a cleaning service. They can help you get the job done, at affordable rates. They could even help you do the dishes if you’re not up for it. They can be your back-up solution for relieving stress.
Create a command centre for your family
Your family command centre should be a spot in your home that everyone sees on a daily basis. It could be the dining room, or kitchen or wherever is best for the family. This command centre is where all the bulk of the housework will be. Your kids can put their backpacks and school supplies here. You should also have a drawer for books and documents in the command room. In it, you can arrange all the books and documents, so they don’t end up being littered everywhere.
In the command rooms, you can also keep track of events, birthdays and parent-teacher meetings. It is the engine room where all the major issues can be sorted out.
How to deal with your kid’s artwork and graded papers
Most parents love to keep and treasure memories of the achievements of their children. But sometimes, it can get a little crowded having all the graded papers and the artwork flying around. The best thing to do in this situation is to store up the graded papers in a box or bin. You can go through them at the end of the year if you feel like reminiscing on your kids’ efforts. You can also decide which one you’d keep and those you’d throw out.
Artwork of kids can be a serious debacle for parents when it comes to cleaning up. You could also do the same thing you did with the graded papers; store them up. You can then reminisce on them during the end of the year. At this point, you’ll decide whether to keeps the artworks or not. You could also teach your kids about recycling, by teaching them when to keep the old thing and when not to.
Have a hassle-free homework session
Homework sessions are one of those times both parents and kids hate. You’ve got to admit, it’s no one’s favourite time of the day because it can be very exasperating. But there are a few tricks you can use to make the process a bit easier.
You can make a homework station with everything your children would need to complete their homework. Not only is this idea very helpful to them, but it is also a great way of preventing them from wandering around. Thus, supplies like books, pencils and their sharpeners are examples of some of the things your homework station should have. You might also need to get some calculators, crayons, tissues and glue. Have on the station as well, a caddy, or a coffee tin where you can put all the supplies.
Making lunch packing less stressful
First of all, I would recommend very strongly, that you put at least 5-10 bucks on your kid’s lunch account. That way, your kids won’t go hungry if they forget their lunch-packs or you forget to pack up lunch.
When you want to pack lunch for your kid, you might want to get plastic shoe boxes. Inside these boxes, you’d put the food items your children would need for lunch. Some of these supplies include; cheeses, meat, pretzels, and some cheese crackers. The list can go on, according to your preference. Put each of these boxes in the space allocated for them in the cabinet of your fridge. You could even have one with sweets and candies in them.
If you have smaller kids, you can label these boxes with a number stipulating how much lunch they can take to school.
You should be conscious of putting your kids in a routine of dropping their lunch boxes on the kitchen counter. It doesn’t have to be the counter. All you have to do is ensure that your kids keep their lunch boxes in safe places.
Preparations by Sunday evenings
A good time to prepare for a new week is on Sunday evenings. It would be an ideal time to restock on your supplies. Once you restock, you can then bag up all your kids’ lunches for the weekdays. This idea makes your weekdays a little less stressful than it would have been. You can also prepare their outfits for the week, and you can let your kids help you. They know what they want to wear; your job is to make sure it’s not inappropriate. You’re also there to ensure that their clothes are organized.
Have a bedtime routine
Having a bedtime routine sure does save you from all the droopy eyes in the morning. Once your kids get used to this routine, you’ll see that waking them up will become much easier. Go online and get a sleep chart that can fit your schedule, if you’re not up for making one yourself.