Start the School Year Off on the Right Foot: 3 Strategies to Tame Morning Chaos

photo by D Sharon Pruitt

With a new school year right around the corner, we’re working on the UrbanSitter Back-to-School Handbook. Our guide will help you ease into fall, step by step, without the stress and with plenty of confidence and style.

This week, we show you how to tame morning chaos before it starts. We’ve identified three challenges that have a way of sabotaging even the most prepared mom’s morning routine, and have provided simple strategies to stop them in their tracks.

3 Simple Strategies to Put an End to Morning Chaos

If your house is like ours, you know the drill. There are far too few minutes between the early wake-up alarm and carpool takeoff. It’s no fun to start your day screaming at your children while you crawl around the floor trying to find a missing shoe, scratch out a permission slip, or pack a lunch.

Follow these 3 strategies to put an end to the chaos and send your kids off happy and well-prepared:

1. Avoid the wardrobe battle once and for all. Determine where you stand in letting your kids choose their clothes, communicate the rules and stick to them.  Experts say it’s important to set parameters for what kids can wear to school, but to also give them options to give them a sense of control and help them learn to make decisions. Letting them have a say also builds confidence and a sense of personal responsibility.

  • Make peace with whether simply clean and comfortable is good enough for you or if you demand a bit more of your prodigy’s    appearance.  We guarantee you haven’t heard the last plea for wearing snow boots in the summer, a size-too-small Christmas dress in September, or a pair of Cars pajamas for a play date. Let them show their personality and style as long as if feels appropriate to you.
  • Take the time to choose an outfit you both agree on before bedtime, rather than five minutes before morning carpool.

2. Corral everyday necessities and find them a home. Command stations keep handy everything your family needs to get out the door each day. There’s no more last-minute searching if you designate a permanent spot for backpacks, lunch boxes, permission slips, homework, carpool notes, and clothes for after-school activities.  Don’t forget to include a spot for a packed and ready-to-go diaper bag. Pick a system that works for you:

  • Hooks and a shelf with bins for each child.
  • Cubbies or lockers.
  • A basket near the door, or if you’re lucky enough to have one, a coat closet with plenty of space for everyone.
  • And for all, a designated drawer for paperwork the teacher sends home, and email folders for digital communication for each child.

3. No more last-minute lunch making. It’s a daily challenge – packing a simple (fast and easy-to-make), healthy lunch that your kids will eat. Make it easy on yourself.  Get your kids to help pack their own lunch after dinner the night before, or better yet, have your sitter tackle the task with them. Stick with one of three formulas, along with a reusable drink bottle:

  • The Classic: Sandwich, fruit/vegetable, something savory (crackers) and a taste of something sweet. Packs nicely in a traditional lunch along with reusable sandwich and snack bags. These by Lunchskins are now available at Target.
  • Leftovers: Basically a bit of last night’s dinner balanced with whatever it takes to make it just as appealing as last night. A small thermos jar is handy for warm or cold meals. Check out these customizable picks.
  • The Bento: A little bit of this, and a little bit of that.  Makes it easy to please picky eaters, feed them healthy food, and provide some variety. Love these eco-friendly, very cool bento boxes.

In the next weeks before the first school bell rings, we’ll also show you how to send your crew back in style, choose after school activities that stimulate rather than stress your kids, offer lunch ideas that will make your kids the envy of the lunch room, and prepare for the endless barrage of birthday parties that is about to come your way!

Back to school means back to routine! Make date nights a part of your weekly routine by scheduling a regular babysitter online with UrbanSitter.

UrbanSitter’s Handbook for Family Road Trip Survival

photo by D Sharon Pruitt

Before you hit the road with your kids this summer, we’re arming you with 8 Indispensable Road Trip Survival Tips.

Following these tips will go a long way in creating a memorable, happy time with your family on the road!

  1. An arsenal of Apps for Kids. It’s likely that even your preschooler knows his way around your smart phone. Preload your phone with apps that meet your personal criteria – age appropriateness, educational, or just pure attention-grabbing fun. CoolMomTech offers a whole section on Cool Apps for Kids. What if you have one phone and three children? Work on taking turns and time-telling skills by having the other kids watch the clock to see when it’s their turn or find a game that allows for multiple players.
  2. Road trip games. Go old school with the standbys from your own childhood. Have kids scout and keep track of animals or certain color cars; count state license plates; fill in Mad Libs or play “I Spy” or “Twenty Questions.” Cater to the age of your children by tweaking the games. For example, have older kids log their findings, categorize, and compete against each other.
  3. Gadgets and electronics. It likely goes without saying, but just in case – don’t leave home without videos. Whether you have DVD players in your car, a laptop, an iPad or portable players, the videos they play will buy you hours of peace. Portable game players (Nintendo DS, Leapster, smart phones) are also good bets. Don’t forget the headphones!
  4. Survival Totes. Pack a small backpack for each child. Include paper, printouts, markers, mini dry-erase boards and pens, playing and flash cards and small toys that you can wrap and dispense throughout the trip. Don’t forget hand wipes, Kleenex and, of course, a first aid kit in your own arsenal.
  5. Summer reading programs. Sign your kids up for a summer reading program through a school, local library or an online program such as the Scholastic Summer Challenge. It will keep your kids motivated to read, and what better time to hit the books than during a long road trip. Many programs offer reading lists, making it quick and easy to load up your e-Reader or iPad with something for everyone before you hit the road. Don’t forget to bring board books tots can thumb through and listen to parents read, as well as books-on-tape for longer stories the whole family can enjoy.
  6. No mess snacks. Pack individual servings of age-appropriate finger foods such as pretzels, crackers, cereal, popcorn and nuts (for older kids). To avoid the fast-food meal traps, bring a small cooler with sandwiches, fruit, pre-cut veggies, yogurt or cheese sticks. Giving each child his or her own water bottle to replenish at rest stops makes more sense than hauling a slew of juice boxes and cans.
  7. Journal or scrapbook the trip. Create a scrapbook of your family vacation. Have kids add drawings of places they’ve seen or fun facts they’ve learned along the way, and paste ticket stubs and other mementos. Put your kids on assignment with a small camera. You can print photos at your destination using an inexpensive pocket printer and paste the prints in the book on the return trip.
  8. A sitter to take over when you arrive! Let’s face it. No matter how much you’ve prepared for your road trip and no matter how much you love your children, you’re bound to need a break. Did you know UrbanSitter can help you line up a perfect sitter away from home? Log onto UrbanSitter to view trusted sitters, read local parent reviews and book a sitter in one of a dozen U.S. cities. It’s a much more personalized and often less expensive way to book childcare than booking through a hotel. Think how nice it will be to have a bit of well-deserved grown-up time in your destination city!