DrDeClutterBlog.com

Getting ready for “back to school” days can mean different things to different people. What does it mean to you? If you just responded with fear, anxiety, and stress over hearing the voices of your angels saying, “Mom, where’s my homework?” “Mom, where’s my lunch?” or “Dad, I can’t find my books and helmet,” you’re not alone!

I want to help you keep your vow to be more organized and less stressed this year by offering you some preventative medicine, rituals, time savers and other organizing tips to help you and your children enjoy the start of another glorious school year!

Ritual #1: The “Back to School” Declutter Appointment
Enlist the help of everyone and get the house in order before school starts. Too late? Do it ASAP or the weeks and months will get away from you.

On a weekly basis: A good deadline for everyone’s room to be spotless is the Sunday night before school starts Monday morning. Starting off with a clean house, rooms, porch, etc. creates a good sense that this is something new and positive and gives a baseline to how “clean” is supposed to look! Teach them how and help them out the first few times when necessary.

Ritual #2: Make a Fresh Start
No matter what your income, it’s nice for children to have some new clothes (even if they’re only new to them), new supplies, etc. with which to return to school. Sometimes it takes into week one or two to know what they need.

For some it can mean one or two new pieces of clothing or a pair of shoes, for another it’s a new backpack or office supply that helps them to enjoy studying more. This means organizing closets and drawers to sort out the old and decide on the new. If your child has outgrown last years clothes, again, and they are still nice and wearable, have a yard or porch sale – make some money selling them and use that money to get new ones! Take advantage of Back To School clothing and supply sales!

Ritual #3: Ask Questions, Find Out Answers
If schools already started you would have done this already, but if not . . .  ask your school and your child for a list of what they are going to need and the schedule for everything. Get off to a solid start with all of the right information the first time. This includes necessary supplies, equipment, lunch money, activities fees, sports and other schedules, etc.

Ritual #4: School Information Central
Take all of the information from your Q&A and write it on the Family Calendar. This calendar needs to be in the kitchen, by the phone and where everyone can see it and add to it as necessary. Make sure everyone checks it so that there are no double-bookings when they can be avoided. Don’t let the “I didn’t knows” create crises, anger, stress and hurt feelings. If you have room, use a bulletin board where you can post the calendar, schedules, announcements, and invitations where they will not get lost and everyone can see and comment on them. For daily notes, get a dry-erase board for your frig or wall for quick notes that can be wiped off and changed daily.

Ritual #5: Systems For Sanity
Teaching your children basic organizing skills and self-responsibility now will make them into much better children and adults. A lot of trees will be cut down just so that your child will be able to bring home lots of paper! One way to curb this chaos is to put a three-tiered wire or plastic basket by their bedroom door, or your kitchen counter.

Teach them to sort through their own backpacks and put papers that need “To Be Signed” by mom/dad in the top basket; another basket for “Important Stuff Mom/Dad Needs” (PTA info., fund-raisers, school policies, etc. Help your child know what these would be); and a basket for “Art & Awards” to be used as scrapbooking ideas and keepers. (Move these items to labeled plastic tubs for organized storage.) And, set some rules, like, “If it’s not in the top basket by bedtime, it doesn’t get signed that night!”

These tools and tips eliminate the last minute papers waving in your face, stress and bad feelings for the day and also gives you time to actually READ what you are signing! Also, make sure that you are on top of doing your part each night to check the files and go through them for your reading, approval and signature. Getting this system down will make a big difference.

Ritual #6: Family Meetings
If you haven’t started this tradition yet, it’s never too late. We make schedules and appointments for so many things and for others but often forget to actually sit down, meet with, talk to, listen to and enjoy our own children. Designate one night of the week when everyone can be there, plan an hour or more to discuss and plan the upcoming week and share how school is going so everyone’s on the same page.

Ritual #7: Fight-No-More Solutions
Sit down with your family and discuss what your routine arguments and hot spots are each year. Get out paper and pen and have each person help create solutions for pre-determining how to fix it. Here are some examples:
- Pre-Pick Daily Clothes: Stop morning delays and drama by laying out clothes on the bed or a chair the night before.
- Bed-Time Blues: Kids need their sleep for better health. So do parents! Stick to a schedule of lights out and up again as well as meal times when the kids are home.
- Sleep Routine: “B” above also means getting your child’s sleep-schedules and routines ready for the school year. If they’ve been up late all summer they’re going to need some practice going to bed earlier and getting their minds and bodies ready for the change. At least two weeks before school starts, re-introduce a school year bedtime. Get them started earlier and earlier, closer to the hour they’ll need to rise when school begins.
- Forgetting Things: No one forgets everything, but maybe certain things. Isolate out the problem areas and get ahead of it.

You will have a “Fight-No-More” list particular to your family, just make sure to sit down together and spend time listening to and helping them to better pre-plan their year; make better choices.

Ritual #8: Routine
There’s a general routine to adult jobs and children’s school. The first week’s routine can be made as close to a normal school week as possible so that it doesn’t feel overwhelming, or extra stressful, or a let down when it’s over and it’s “back the same grind.” This means committing to make the above 7 tips a reality so that the first week runs smoothly. This creates a great path for the following weeks, and less “grind!”

Good luck and have a great new Back to School Year!

Soon enough you’ll be putting away those swim suits and shorts and digging out the sweaters and socks. The beginning of the school year is a good time to do this sorting for children.

If your children have outgrown their summer clothes, won’t wear them again next year or just want to clear some space, it’s time to sort, store and swap!

SEASONAL SORT, STORE AND SWAP

At the beginning or end of each season is a good time to sort through what hasn’t seen the light of day and move it out so others can enjoy it.

1. SWAP: Some clothes may be just right sizes for friends, family or other school kids who can use them this year. Put into a SWAP box. Call these families and tell them to do the same if you all have kids the same sizes and growing into sizes you need. Plan a day at one of your homes and bring all the clothes – SWAP! Have a fun day adding to your child’s wardrobe, trading clothes for free.

2. DONATE: The clothes that are not swapable or no one has that size child - put into a DONATE box. I let the thrift store employees decide whether they are “good enough” or not to keep moving along.

Read more about SHWAPPING for adults items too!

If there is more than one of you in your house, and that other one is in school, creating a calendar for all activities, upcoming and ongoing events and routines is crucial to stress, time management and sanity.

Everyone writes in their activities, and you write on the ones for children too small to do it themselves.

BENEFITS?

1. Get a positive flow and rhythm to your routines.

2. You’ll all get on the same page this way – all seeing the same picture and of all the puzzle pieces of your days and upcoming weeks and months.

3. You’ll be less likely to forget and miss events or be late for appointments.

4. You’ll also stop the too-easy-to-happen double and over booking of appointments, events and activities.

5. You might also notice that you have way too much going on and need a family meeting to discuss cutting back or out some things to keep some balance and time for family time, real meals and, well, sleep!

How many times would like NOT to say, “Have you done your homework?” this year?

No one is exempt from learning life-skills in youth. But, if children aren’t supported and taught how to do the doing of what you want them to learn the right way, how will they learn?!

Creating daily, on the clock and expected routines for schoolwork is a must to help your children win this year.

1. Establish a “tight schoolwork routine” as soon as school starts so that everyone knows what to expect and will feel great about getting homework done and relaxed for school the next day.

2. Create “homework time” that is met consistently by the student and by you the parent, should they need help.

3. Create a ”homework zone” where everything the child needs is available to sit and study: chair, desk or table, good lighting, quiet, undisturbed, materials needed.

4. Create your availability to help with any questions that arrise that they need help with. Make it easy and okay for them to ask questions about their homework. Even if you don’t know the answer, and say, “I don’t know,” it’s okay. Help them understand how to find the answer.

Depending on your child’s school schedule it’s back to school time this month for many. Are you ready?

You don’t have to be a magician to get your kids out of bed and out the door for school but, it’s a painful shock to most children’s systems to move from a carefree summer — up late nights and sleeping in and brain on off – to a the hectic schedule of school and activities, new situations, morning arguements about not getting out of bed on time or out the door, etc.

Save yourself and your family fights, hurt feelings and stress by getting into a schedule before school begins.

It’s imperative to your child and to you to start their “back to school” habits now, not the day after they start and are already tired, aggitated, confused and ill prepared for the rhythm they need to get into to make school, studies, homework, activities, family time, chores, play and sleep work like a well oiled metronome.

1. Set a bed time and stick to it, no more late summer hours.

2. Get up earlier in the morning to get used to early hours.

3. Don’t let days be non-time-committed. Give children chores, a schedule, books to read, etc. (Things they should be doing all summer!)

4. Get a school calendar started so that everyone knows that this is the place to go and look to see what’s upcoming that everyone needs to know about. This also starts the conversation about school and gets everyone’s minds on what’s coming up and how to prepare for it.

5. Make it happy. School should be happy and creative, so no down-talking school as compared to summer, nor saying things like, “I can’t wait until you’re in school, this summer is driving me crazy!” Kids don’t need to be put down for being, well, kids!

And remember, these school habits aren’t just for them, they’re for you too! The more you’re all in sync with the new schedule, the better your family gets along every day. How nice is that?!

My niece and nephew from Nebraska competed this past weekend at the State Games of America in Monument, CO. Thank goodness it was a cool 74 degrees all day. Sun shine and hardly a whisp of a cloud in the sky makes for sunburn central in this altitude.

I carry an umbrella if I have to sit the beating sun more than a minute! But, the kids found a perfect spot in the shade while waiting inbetween events.

Oh, and, yea! I’m very proud of “my” kids! Chase won first in shotput of the girls ages 13-14 GOLD MEDAL! And 16 year old Colton won a SILVER MEDAL in discus. Other races were run but they didn’t get into the top rankings.

How fun to enjoy summer with family and others enjoying healthy, motivated kids doing what they do best.

By the way, I won a few events in shot put and discus in high school too!

It’s about that time again parents! School starts soon, is your child safe?

There’s enough to think about at the beginning of the school year without having to think about your child’s safety too. But, you do.

Here are two great sites to check out for all areas of safety for your children, going to, from or in school this year: PreventWorks blog - you’ll find articles and pdf downloads for guidelines, tips and more.

And McGruff! where there are online games for small children and more teaching safety in the simplest of ways.

These are both from the National Crime Prevention Council. 

School is for learning, social skills building, creating a lifetime of good memories and friends and fun. It is much more enjoyable in a safe and secure environment, so do what you can to prevent crime at your school this year.

Summer is such a great time to get out and play, but also to learn about new activities. Kids can take a long time to find out if they like the variety of sports and activities available to them unless you help them jump in and risk trying something new and challenging.

The above two activities were just a few that kids could try for free at our local Rhythm on the River Festival this year. Rock or wall climbing from Avid4Adventure and kayaking aren’t activities all children will be able to try if parents don’t have the equipment, time or ability and interest to do it with them or for themselves. But here they can try it out and see if their interest flickers enough to seek it out later in life. Check your local events listings throughout the year to find out where you can take your children and share experiences that could truly change their lives.

Some families and neighborhoods buy their own climbing walls! Here’s one for the smallest of children to practice on.

I like animals, but just don’t have it in me to walk them, feed and take care of them, deal with Vet bills and fur all over and figure out what to do with them if I’m on the road for a while. And, no, no cats thanks!

So, I bought a dog for $2 at a garage sale. Yup, that’s it’s picture above. Cuuuute!

Actually, I bought it for my mom who’s dog died last year. She accidentally got into cat-camp now, but I thought she’d enjoy this one while she decides if she’ll get a dog again or not. But, after only a day with this furry friend my mom won’t be getting to keep him even if I take it home for her to see later this year. Why? Because even though I’ve never been a stuffed animal fan, it’s a nice big dog and kind of cute sitting in my livingroom! Easy keeper and no hassle.

You might notice I keep saying “it.” I haven’t decided on a name so I don’t know if it’s a girl or boy dog. The garage sale couple said it was a girl. I’ll see if a name shows up someday and then I’ll know for sure! Until the, Such a Goodoooog will due.

On the reminder side, enjoy life and happy animals, but own them only if you really have the time, energy, money, committment and moments to take care of them well. Otherwise, there are plenty of big and small stuffed ones just waiting for a good home!

PS My brother asked me if I feed it “Stovetop Stuffing!” Har, har, har!

My clients Sandy and Joe really love their kids.

This climbing rope is attached to the vaulted ceiling in their livingroom with a massive hook. Why? Because their young and active daughter likes to climb. How cool is this!

You probably won’t be putting a climbing rope in your living room! But, what can you do to support your kid’s creativity, athleticism, joy and wonder! They’re only young once, and Spackle and paint will cover many a great idea of good parenting!