Gearing up for back to school
Some kids have already gone back (bless their hearts, I saw some teenagers yesterday who looked absolutely *miserable* about it) but a lot of kids are only starting next week or in September after Labour Day. For those of us who are still trying to prepare for the school year, Gayla at Supernanny Rules found a great article on how to make it easier on everyone in your family.
It includes a suggestion to start getting kids up at whatever hour they’ll need to rise once school starts, and to start doing it ten days before the big day, even on weekends. I’m too late for that, we only have a week left, and honestly I can’t bring myself to get up at 6:30 for no reason when my kids both like to sleep until 7:30 or 8 am. I do intend to implement this next Monday, which will give us three practice days and if nothing else, it will make her tired enough to fall asleep easily at night.
It also says that you should prepare a ten minute slot at night for prep time, where you set up the school bags and anything that needs to be taken in the morning. You can also set up your breakfast area and lay out all clothes right down to underwear, socks, and accessories to avoid clothing issues - that’s one thing that I can breathe easy about since we have a dress code so it’s just a matter of deciding on tunic vs. pants and polo vs. blouse. Thank heavens.
The author recommends, well, annoying your kids awake, by setting a clock radio to a loud and cheery radio station and to make sure you open the blinds and get them up and moving in bright light. Even if they complain.
One thing which I’m going to start as soon as tomorrow is their suggestion to create a game out of morning routines. You can set a timer and see if they can get dressed before it goes off, brush their teeth before it buzzes, and so on. The article makes the game fun by saying you can offer up a prize of some sort if they beat the timer every day of the week.
The only thing I’m flat out refusing? Their idea of getting up 30 minutes ahead of time to have some quiet morning time to prepare yourself and whatnot. Although they say that you’ll feel better for it and be in a good mood as a result, that would mean I would have to get up at 6 am. Considering my night owl genes, I can’t imagine that would make for much of a good mood by the time I do the wake up rounds. I figure my coffee is instant, and my breakfast and e-mail can just wait until the school bus has gone by.
One more week to go, I can’t believe it!
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POSTED IN: Education, Parenting, Practicalities
2 opinions for Gearing up for back to school
Gayla McCord
Aug 23, 2007 at 8:30 am
I’m not a big fan of getting up extra early either. Since I’ve surpassed that big Four OH mark, I need all the beauty sleep I can get.
Jennifer
Aug 25, 2007 at 7:04 pm
I homeschool so getting up isn’t a big deal most of the time. BUT I will say that my mom got me up with loud music when I was a kid and I HATED her for that. Seriously, me and my siblings started most days off in a really bad mood because our mom did that. I think that the author of that article is a bit off base. I don’t know that I’ll ever forget how annoying that was. I think it’s nicer to awaken calm and I won’t do that to my son. If kids have trouble getting up it’s probably because they are not getting enough rest. An early bedtime is a better idea than a rude awakening.
Another thing that works is aromatherapy; burning an invigorating oil in your child’s room or making a breakfast that they’ll look forward to. Something that works for me; although I know you said you don’t like it is getting up earlier. If we have to be somewhere but I promise we can hang out for a bit before — like play a quick game of Trouble, Cedar gets up quicker.
The author says, “even if they complain” but honestly that was one of the top ten worst parts of my childhood. I’d hate for other kids to go through that.
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