It’s here!
Time to slurp up last ice cream cones, pull out those fresh new clothes and silently mourn the end of summer.
Or maybe cheer if you have been entertaining the kids ALL SUMMER LONG. There are only so many times a parent can hear “I’m bored” before she goes insane.
Here’s what you need to do this week:
Relax!
For real though, before you know it, your son will come home with work after school and your daughter will need to be ferried back and forth to soccer/gymnastics/swim team three days a week. And you will still have emails to answer, dinner to make, clothes to wash, and life to live. It will be busy. Enjoy this last week of no academic obligations for the kids.
Go outside
Summer is fading fast in most of the US, and winter is coming. It will start to get dark early and stay dark later. Your after school play time will be dictated by sports, homework, and daylight hours. Take time to go for a hike as a family, go to the beach, or even just sit outside in your yard or local park.
Organize
Check that classroom supplies list one last time. Make sure that you have gotten what is on there, exactly. There is a reason why teachers request Elmer’s Glue and not Roseart. Trust me. Put all of the supplies into a large paper shopping bag, or use a reusable grocery bag and gift it to your teacher. Chances are, those erasers and scissors you just labelled so nicely will be dumped into a communal bin.
Plan
Now, in the week of calm, is the time to plan your meals, your schedule, and those first day of school outfits. Get a big calendar that you can stick on the wall. Use a different color dry erase marker for each family member. Plot out at least two weeks of obligations and things to do. Check for conflicts. It is better to find out now that swim and soccer have a tight window for transitions than on the day of.
Take a deep breath
Repeat as often as necessary throughout the year. This, too, shall pass. It will be summer again before you know it, the kids will be another year older, and you can worry about how to keep them occupied over the endless weeks of vacation before stressing about how to send them back to school.
It will be fine, I promise.
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