Timesaving tips for the first day of school from experts in the know

Let kids make some of their own decisions

The more decisions a child can make on their own, the less parents have to worry about on busy school mornings. Brooke Weiss, MSN, APRN, CPNP from simplywellfamily.com is a certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner with over 20 years of experience in pediatric healthcare. She says “Children can be encouraged to make their own decisions in any area that is not a non-negotiable. This may be in their clothing choices, books they read, snacks they eat, etc. To help encourage the child to make appropriate or good choices, a parent can limit the options to choices that are acceptable.”

Don’t be afraid to get help

Help can come in many forms, even from an online service.  Monique Banks and Ariel Banks Baker are the founders of BLUEPRINT, a DIY service that allows parents to select a custom or pre-designed party plan from over 12 themes.  Back to school is a time when birthday parties start back up and having a roadmap with everything you need to have a great time is a huge help.  BLUEPRINT a way to help parents get organized for their child’s party and make sure that the event is loads of fun for the birthday child and guest. They created the service as a way to help busy parents stay cool, calm, and collected when planning a child’s birthday party.  Monique and Ariel have helped to plan over 3,000 parties, so they understand how hectic parents’ lives can be!

Get creative with morning organization tasks

Jada Rashawn, a Professional Nanny and Nanny Consultant for Sittercity, shares, “One of the best ways to cut down the stress in the mornings is to create and implement a routine. I recommend trying to do as much as possible to get ready the night before. If you have bath time in the evening, this could be a great opportunity to add picking out clothes the night before.”

She also says, “It’s important to allow kids to have some sort of control and say over what they wear. However, if your child wants to pick out a costume to wear, you can still create options for them with some boundaries. For example, pick out five different options of shirts they can choose from. Another fun idea is to get a hanging shoe rack for the closet. Print out labels for M-F, and in each square, you can place a different outfit for each day of the week. You can create different outfits with your kids on Sunday night and have everything ready to go during the week. If they decide they don’t want to wear Monday’s outfit, then can swap the outfit out for another day.”

Set a time limit that kids can manage

Megan Santiago, a Clinical Mental Health Counselor in Training and a parent of two, offers these tips for getting her 5-year-old daughter getting ready faster in the morning. “I made my daughter a chart with reward stickers. In the morning, I set a 10-minute timer for her to do age-appropriate things. When the task is completed, my daughter gets to earn stickers. She gets to pick what she earns for the week after she does her 3-4 things in the morning every day to get ready. It’s fun to race against the clock, and it allows me to get myself and my youngest child ready.”