Back To School Lessons and Strategies - Connections Episode

So first thing I've learned is the importance of having some kind of organizational system for myself.

So whether that's as a parent or as a caretaker, whatever capacity you are in with kids in your life, I feel like every year it gets more and more overwhelming with the amount of information that you receive.

So it really starts kind of the previous year when the sc- when school year ends.

I feel like already I'm getting emails to order school supplies for the next year, to start to sign up for things.

Every school and every school activity has a different app you have to download.

I have to make sure that notifications are turned on, otherwise I tend to miss things.

So for me, and I tend to be an organized person, like that's just the way I am, that I do really well with lists and color coordinated things.

That's how...

I'm an Enneagram six, so it's how I feel kind of safe and prepared.

But I am telling you, I do better going into the school system if I'm organized.

So for me, that means starting really kind of the beginning of August, making sure I have all the dates right in our calendar.

We have a family calendar, so I would say making sure that you have a system as a family on how you wanna organize things.

Our family calendar is my husband and I, we share it, and so we both always know not only activities that the kids might have, but like things that we each might have separately that we need to work around when it comes to driving or being available.

So all of those things, you know, back to school days, school supplies, all of it.

So just having some kind of organizational system has helped me a ton, and just trying to follow that, and then also realizing what you can delegate.

Because as your kids get older, you'll be able to delegate more of that, and the schools will ask you to delegate more of that.

So for our daughter who's in eighth grade, she definitely has more responsibility, so I gave her the school supply list when we got it, and I said, "Hey, go downstairs." We keep a huge, like, drawer of extra school supplies.

I said, "Go downstairs and you're gonna go through your list, and you're gonna find everything you can that you need for your backpack, and then you're gonna come back and tell me what we don't have, and I will be...

I'll order that for you, or we'll go find it together." So that's been really helpful, is when, as they get older, being able to kind of give them some duties in that way, you know.

And I'm talking too, lunch boxes.

"Hey, how are your lunch boxes from last year, guys? Do they still work? Tell me about this.

Do you need this for school? Is your backpack in good shape?" All of those things.

[laughs] So the more I'm organized with that and ready for the year, the better I tend to do.

Like, it sets me up to be prepared.

Next, that being said, so my number two thing, even with all of that craziness and information coming, I have recognized the importance of not passing that on to the kids.