Tips for getting your kids ready to go back to school

I was shocked in June when Target was promoting Back to School - hadn't we just finished the school year. But now it's August and it's really time to start the "re-entry" process. Here's our back to school acclimation program that is more productive than a shock to the system on Sept. 1.

Tip One: Don't stop reading

We've encouraged reading throughout the summer and my eldest has an assignment to write a report on two books he's read. We let the kids choose books to read for the summer and enticed them with a slight extension to bedtime exclusively for reading. I'm pretty sure parents have been trying that trick for generations.

Tip Two: Clean the desks - but make it fun

My family has a paper problem and I'm pretty sure the sheets of paper have learned to reproduce in our welcoming environment. I hired an organizer to help me deal with my husband and my issues.  So far, so good and it's been a couple of months.  For the kids, we let everyone know that Saturday morning was desk cleaning day.  Dad led the removal of everything from the desks and the initial garbage disposal. Mom led the review of what to keep and what to relegate to memories.  Empty desks ready for the next year of work.

Tip Three: Take inventory

School supplies aren't particularly expensive, but so many of them come home at the end of the year that it seems wasteful not to re-use the ones that are still virtually new. We put all the existing inventory on the dining room table, tested pens, pencils, erasers, markers and more until we had everything sorted. Compared our inventory to the school supply list and highlighted what was left to buy.

Tip Four: Make a playdate

My kids go to a bunch of camps over the summer where they make new friends and explore their interests. Sometimes there's a schoolmate at these camps, but usually not. August is a great time to reconnect them with their friends. We're doing a Giants game with one friend. Working on more (social calendaring is not my strong suit). If your child is at school with my sons - want to have a playdate?

Tip Five: Talk about school positively

It doesn't take much for kids to realize that summer is a lot of fun. No homework. No tests. No reports. Lots of sports and fun. Our kids usually find school to be fun too (not like summer, but still fun) - they like learning and being with their friends. Instead of bemoaning the end of summer, we talk about what they're looking forward to in their next year of school and what they want to learn. We convey our own genuine excitement for the experience they're about to have at school. A little bit of the self-fulfilling prophecy - you get what you expect.

Tip Six: Squeeze lots of memories from the dog days of summer

We're going to extract every last morsel of summer from the season. My sons and husband are going camping/rafting this summer with Dads from our school. Next weekend, my kids join my parents in the mountains by a lake...while we get a couples weekend.  Then we go to the lake.  Tired yet? And there's the possibility of a short, impromptu family vacation when none of the kids have school. Of course, we don't get those sorts of vacations from work!  Have fun and good luck.

Tip Seven: Plan the afterschool activities

Our kids are pretty active and we want them to run around and play a lot after school. Because we both work, we need to put a little structure into that playtime. Each son gets to play one organized sport a season - their choice. They have music instruction. And they get to do something else they like - active. Sometimes two something else's depending on proximity. So now we're choosing what the activities will be (except for soccer, that has to be chosen in April for the fall season). It's fun and builds anticipation with the kids.

Tip Eight: Make a big deal of the haircuts

Somehow, my kids have fallen in love with the haircut experience. It's likely the lollipop for the little girl and the Pao de Queijo for the older two. But in any case, before they go back to school, they need to look sharp and making this a fun outing reduces the amount of complaining it could otherwise entail.

Tip Nine: Ask your friends for their tips

So?  What do you do to get the kids ready to go back to school?

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms blogging program to be eligible to get a HarperCollins book set. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Learning to ride a bike

They say once you learn, you never forget.  And who doesn't have memories of their mom or dad running behind them and letting go as we pedal furiously to stay upright. I have memories of being the mom running behind each of my boys.  But my sister found a better way - a balance bike/run bike/likeabike.  Whatever - it's a tot-sized bike without pedals.  And even my 2 1/2 year old can use it and loves it.

It was a beautiful day today and while the guys wanted to watch football, Ariel and I wanted to enjoy the glorious sunshine.  Actually, Ariel saw "her bike" (it's borrowed from her cousin) inthe garage and basically begged to go for a ride.  I thought my sister was a little nuts when she got this for her two year old - but he was riding a bike for real by the time he was three and loving it.  Guess I was the one who was nuts...

My daughter thinks this is the coolest riding device around - she likes to race me (I'm on foot) and she already has learned that she will fall and that she needs to just get up and try again.  Lessons in perserverance.  Because we live in a flat area, she really cannot go that fast and hurt herself - and she's wearing a helmet every time.

I don't actually care if she rides a real bike when she's 3, 4 or 5 but I love the opportunity for her to work hard learning something and to be proud of herself for accomplishment.  Plus, it's fun, active and outdoor.  If you haven't seen one of these bikes in action - check it out.  When they get good at it, as my nephew did, they really zoom around.

See it in action - professionally shot ad for a balance bike company.

This is not a sponsored post - no bike companies have asked me to review their bikes.  And if you have no idea why I'm disclaiming - check out the FTCs new requirements of bloggers.

Update on Monday, October 26, 2009 at 10:11AM by Joelle - a Practical Parent

All good things must end...my niece is old enough for the balance bike, so I must part with it.  Guess I'll be looking for recommendations of a gently used balance bike for my daughter.  Ideas?  Of course, I'll start with CraigsList and eBay!

Old fashioned fun

It's very cool when something fun also is educational - and when kids come up with the activity on their own.  Over Labor Day Weekend, Benjamin wanted a very specific play date - with a schoolmate.  They had been talking about getting together to make a lemonade and cookies stand.  Benjamin had done this once over the summer with his brother and developed an appetite for generating extra money through entrepreneurship.

Our philosophy is that they should be masters of their project and that we'll invest some working capital, but expect them to cover their costs (including little brother labor), payback the working capital and then take their profits.  We also believe that lemonade should be homemade - fresh squeezed.  And the cookies should be homemade too.  After all, these are not discount products. 

The boys prepared and squeezed their lemons to combine with the sugar syrup we created.  They also arranged their cookie-dough for cooking.  When all was ready, they made their signs and developed their pricing strategy.  They decided to try a cookie-sampling program like Trader Joe's and Costco to encourage consumers.  We walked to the park and they had to introduce themselves and their offer to parents on the playground.  I sat in the background holding their money box - but they had to determine the totals and make change for their customers.  They got rejected a lot - and had to deal with that.  And after they had exhausted that market, they moved to another - a busy corner near our house. 

On the corner, they learned another lesson.  When they were asked who they were selling their products for, my son said - it's for our school.  And so, they had to donate a portion of their profits to the school's tzedakah fund.  Cannot market what you aren't going to deliver.  At the end of the day, they covered their costs, repaid the bank, donated to the school and still made a tidy profit.  They learned some tricks for next time and had a blast. 

What sort of old fashioned fun are you exploring?

Benchmarking my kid

It’s an unavoidable consequence of society that parents compare their child’s development and accomplishments versus the child’s peers – our friends’ kids and their classmates.  Dr. Jessica’s daughter is an incredibly voracious reader – she’s 12 days older than my eldest who is not, shall we say, voracious about reading in spite of the fact that both his parents love to read.  As the Rabbi taught us – kids are wired and our job as parents is to figure out their wiring.  This benchmarking comes at a cost...

It’s frustrating to be face to face with something imperfect about your child.  A lot of us want to “fix” them.  The proliferation of tutoring programs and the overreliance on standardized tests to both fix and measure the progress of our children is testament to this compulsion.  And the message we’re sending to our kids is that you have to be the best at everything and if you are not, I’m going to force you to spend extra time on the things you like least until you are the best at everything.  No wonder the most depressed group of teenagers are upper middle class children – parents with unrealistic expectations.  I recommend this article from the American Psychological Association – it made me think about how we are raising our kids and draws from multiple studies.

It’s not only academic – we benchmark against each other for extracurricular activities too.  Experian released a report today about K-6 children’s involvement in after school activities - a perfect benchmarking tool.  My husband will be thrilled to see the increasing interest in lacrosse starting in 5^th grade.  Soccer peaks in third grade.  Massive internet usage is around the corner. Hockey peaks twice – 3^rd and 6^th.  Anyone have a theory for that? 

It turns out that third grade is the year when most kids start to pick up and focus on hobbies and sports.  I notice this more already – Benjamin has much clearer preferences about what he wants to do (prefer drums to piano, golf to jujitsu) than he did 4 months ago.  I thought he was just being a little cantankerous – but it turns out, he’s normal.  Benchmarking perfectly. And we’ll have to work with him to cultivate his strengths and interests.  And maybe, over time, he’ll come to love reading.

How do you deal with your own need to benchmark?

 

Update on Friday, September 11, 2009 at 2:29PM by Joelle - a Practical Parent

If you want to have Practical Parenting as an email - we've set up a new login feature.  Send me an email to get your own login to Practical Parenting.