The author (not pictured) said she makes sure her family doesn't schedule anything beyond the essentials during the first month back to school.
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There are three seasons in any parent-child school life that make us all want to run away and hide. The first is in May, when the school calendar is jam-packed with special dress days, award ceremonies, and graduations. The second is December, right before a two-week holiday break, where once again, every day has something special and dysregulating, including final exams for some students. Then there's right about now: back-to-school time.This year, I'm not going to let it get the best of me. Instead, I'm following a hard-and-fast rule that I started a few years back that has saved us from a lot of added stress. For the first few weeks, we aren't going to add anything more to our plates than is necessary. We aren't going to host friends for dinner, or plan a big family outing to a nearby town. We're going to stay put and power through life until we get back into a normal routine.The back-to-school chaos starts earlyThis stress starts long before school starts. Parents are bombarded with e-mails and app messages with schedules, forms, and lists. The closer we get to the first day of school, the more flooded our inboxes become.Then there's all the school supplies, clothing, and sports gear shopping — all of it depleting our bank accounts.This is happening as we also realize our summer routine is quickly ending, giving way to early-morning alarms and rushing our kids to the bus stop or car, hoping to make it to school before the bell rings.
