👋🏻 Hi there, Helen here with our annual post on tools Adam and I use to manage busy lives as the school year begins. For parents, September can feel very similar to January 1st - an annual beginning full of goals, hopes and dreams for what’s to come.
Professionally, my fall is going to be busy - I’m focusing on a marketing revamp of my business offerings, starting quite a few new coaching clients, serving as a mentor coach for Women in Bio Seattle Chapter, serving my second year as PTSA President, captaining a daytime women’s tennis team and leading my younger daughter’s Girl Scout Troop.
I’m looking forward to getting back to a routine, onboarding a new household manager, football season, fall soups and the changing of the leaves. Wherever you are, I hope this transition finds you well.
👩🏫 Clear the deck
I love Gretchen Rubin’s recommendation to get ready to return to the usual routine, to do a bunch of small tasks to set yourself up in a playful way. This is the third year I’m playing this Bingo game! So far, I have booked travel to see my sister and to see our good friends in Oregon, cleared out the kids closets in service of donating for fire victims in Spokane, and made my annual appointment for my eye exam and mammogram. I also used Claude to unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters!
✅ Update and Print Morning Checklists and Breakfast Menu
We started having a morning checklist a couple of years ago. Our morning checklist reminds our girls what is expected of them to get ready for the day. I display this laminated list prominently in our kitchen area, keep markers nearby, and every item gets checked off before we leave for school. Throughout the year, we add/remove items as we agree as a family, but this has been a helpful tool to ensure everyone knows what their job is in the morning.
I have also found that having a debate about breakfast daily is not fun, so we have a breakfast menu to reduce decision-making fatigue in the morning and further streamline weekday mornings. We have agreed as a family on the guardrails for each day of the week for breakfast, with built-in nonnegotiables as well as choices throughout the week. I learned this tip from a fellow mom and it worked great last year so we are continuing it on.
🔟 Remember the Pick 10 Rule to keep the house tidy
A while ago, I learned about the “10 Things Rule” renamed in our household to Pick 10. With a busy family of four, the clutter accumulates fast. So now, as a family, we all pick up 10 things during a transition period - for example, between dinner and the next activity, before leaving the house to go on a fun adventure, after arriving home and starting the next thing. 10 is an arbitrary number - sometimes we do 5 or 15. The main point is to not make this time-based but outcome-based.
👏🏻 Clear and Prep the School Work Boards
We have two large cork boards with each of our kids’ names hanging up by our dining table. This is where our girls get to display any work they are proud of from school. Before the start of the school year and the new year, we clear the boards to make them be ready for the upcoming influx of work that will be coming home. The girls get to decide what goes up on the board and what comes off of it when there is not enough space. Things that don’t make it on the board go into the trash.
First day of school traditions
🍦 Ice cream on the first day of school eve
My family had a tradition of getting ice cream before the first day of school to celebrate the upcoming beginning. Adam and I now do this with our girls. It gives us a moment to ask the kids questions about their intentions for the year as well as to talk through the upcoming morning of the first day of school (reminder of checklists, time to get up, etc.).
🍎 Take the first day of school morning off
When I chose to be a working parent, I promised myself that on days when I really wanted to be present with my kids or fellow moms, I’d make the time at work to do that. The first day of school is one of those days where I crave connection with other parents, so I block off half a day for back-to-school to be able to walk to school with my kids and hang out with fellow moms for a little bit after. After drop-off, I take a walk, get a tea/coffee, and sit down to plan the fall using Lazy Genius’s season workbook.
This pause gives me a moment of reflection for the year and grounds me in the two big jobs I have - being a mom and being a professional.
Wrapping Up
Whether or not you have kids starting school, going back to school or you are just getting ready for the fall, I hope you feel seen. I look forward to this season as much for the return to routine as well as fall decorations, soups, and football games.
Also, here are more of our parenting posts:
👶 Advice on Hiring a Nanny: Practical tips for working parents (Helen and Adam)
💪🏻 Brave Parenting: How to show up intentionally with our kids
🐎 Seven pieces of advice for parents returning to the "office" after parental leave: How to adjust back to work life (Helen)
✈️ Work Travel and Mom Guilt (Helen)