Picture, if you will, the perfect mom. She isn’t too young or too old, and her two beautiful children are the requisite 2.2 years apart in age. She’s not too frumpy but also, not overly made up. She’s dressed in comfortable yet stylish clothes, walking her carefully groomed kids to school (on time!) with her own hair pulled back in a neat ponytail. A healthy lunch is tucked into each child’s monogrammed backpack, and later, she’ll drive them to soccer or piano lessons in a gleaming white SUV.
If you ever see any of my social media posts, you won’t find pictures of fancy, made from scratch desserts or dishes. Cooking from scratch is not something I’m very good at. My skill set is closer to burning the Campbell’s soup to the bottom of the pot so badly that the pot ends up in garbage.
I open my eyes slightly while I stretch…still warmly buried under the covers. It’s dark…but I hear birds chirping outside so I know it’s morning. I check the clock. 6:15am. In about 15 short minutes, my youngest will climb out of his bed, go to the bathroom, then go back to his room to check his clock. He will see that it’s not 7 yet and get back in his bed. He knows he’s not allowed to get up until 7. So, he lays in his bed…singing, snapping, clapping, playing. One would think at 6:30 in the morning I would be annoyed. But I’m not. I lay there and listen to him…and I smile.
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I admit, at times I don’t eat breakfast myself, despite the mounting research that shows how it is crucial for good health. We all know that a healthy breakfast fuels you up and gets you ready for the day. According to KidsHealth.org, “in general, kids and teens who eat breakfast have more energy, do better in school and eat healthier throughout the day”. I know from personal experience that without breakfast, people can get irritable, restless and super tired.
In the early stages of my last trimester I had a dream that my son was born with a birthmark on his face. It was a coin-sized, purplish mark on his cheek. I remember feeling complete and utter anguish for my son during this very vivid dream.
Does the start of the school year have you mourning summer, or are you jumping for joy? Before you break out the champagne, remember to squeeze in any last appointments, get the new backpacks, and label all the things! Oh, and a photo-op! Don’t forget the photo-op!
I don’t know if it’s the hot summer air, the kids running wild on the old-school play equipment, or the ridiculous amounts of yummy snacks we bring with us, but there is just something special about going to a drive-in movie. Not only is it a fun twist on family movie night, but for me…it’s full of nostalgia! It feels like a scene out of a feel-good 80’s movie. It just feels so relaxed, easy…carefree.
As we inch closer and closer to September and the start of a new school year, students may be starting to feel some anxiety about the academic challenges that lay ahead. I consider the first day of school as a kind of academic “new year’s day” – a new class, a new curriculum and very often, new educational challenges await. Whether your child is starting junior kindergarten, grade 5 or grade 9, the first day back to school can be daunting! A good way to ease some stress about starting a new school year is to set some academic goals or targets at home before they hit the classroom.
Being organized and on top things can be daunting for parents, let alone our kids! While research shows that kids can benefit from set routines at home and at school, including better behavior and better academic performance, sticking to a schedule is sometimes easier said than done. Let’s face it, we all have unique lives, with different pressures, obligations and stresses that rule our day-to-day. Teaching our kids to be organized isn’t easy, but it is something that we should at least try to encourage. Some negative effects of not being organized that students can suffer from include losing confidence in their ability to handle things, self-blame, a decrease in academic performance, challenge avoidance and more.
I scream, you scream we all scream for ice cream!