By Shirin Yadegar
Every August, we buy the backpacks, sharpen the pencils and promise ourselves that this will be the year we stay organized.
Then September happens.
Experience has taught me that a successful school year isn’t really about having the perfect planner or color-coded calendar. It’s about establishing a few simple habits early and sticking to them.
Whether your child is walking into kindergarten or driving themselves to high school, here are some basics that can set the tone for the entire year.
Start with making the bed.
It sounds almost too simple, but I’m a big believer in beginning the day with one small accomplishment. Making your bed takes two minutes, creates order and sends a message: I’m ready for my day. For younger children, help them until it becomes automatic. For teenagers, resist the temptation to do it for them.
Prepare the night before.
Morning chaos usually begins the night before. Backpacks should be packed, homework checked, sports equipment by the door and clothes chosen before bedtime. Five or ten minutes of preparation can completely change the energy of a morning. (For younger girls, give then 2 options to set up on the floor and let then pick in the morning).
Create one home for everything.
Designate a place for backpacks, shoes, chargers, school papers and sports gear. Kids shouldn’t be searching for their math homework or one missing cleat five minutes before leaving the house. Organization is a skill, and home is where we teach it.
Protect sleep.
One of the best back-to-school resets is returning to consistent bedtimes. That also means getting phones out of bedrooms at night. Children cannot perform at their best academically, emotionally or athletically when they are exhausted. I have a charging station in the hallway for all of the phones and ipads.
Teach responsibility, not perfection.
Forgotten homework? A missed deadline? A bad grade? Our instinct as moms is often to jump in and fix it. But sometimes the consequence is the lesson. Our goal isn’t to create children who never make mistakes. It’s to raise kids who know how to recover from them.
And finally, eat together whenever you can. Even if it’s only 20 minutes at the kitchen counter, put down the phones and ask real questions: What was the best part of your day? What was hard? Who did you sit with at lunch?
The most important back-to-school supply isn’t something we can order online. It’s structure.
Because long after our kids forget what was in their kindergarten backpack or what they wore on the first day of high school the habits we teach them at home will go with them into college, careers and adulthood.
Shirin Yadegar is the founder of http://www.lamommagazine.com