đ usncan Note: 5 Back To School Routines For Working Parents
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Relieve the stress of back to school with smart routines.
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For working parents, back to school can be both a relief and also a burden. Youâll miss the slow days of summer and you look forward to the comfort of regular schedules, but the demands can feel overwhelming.
With the responsibilities of back to school, establishing routines can be the perfect way to reduce stress and make the process easier for both you and your kids.
Build a Back-to-School Routine that Works
So how can working parents build a back-to-school routine that makes sense for their family?
1. Start Early
One of the best ways to establish your routine is to start early. In fact, 89% of parents swear by this approach, according to a survey from Life360. Before the start of the school year, establish earlier bedtimes and wake up times, set a routine for mealtimes and protect periods for regular reading that will turn into periods for homework.
In addition, communicate with your boss or your team in case your schedule at work will need to shift. And ensure youâre caught up on summer-time projects so you can hit the ground running for the school year.
2. Create Habits
The reason routines are helpful is that they embed habits and allow for âcognitive offloading.â When you do something the same way again and again, you donât have to think about it each time and it just starts to happen automatically.
For back to school, make a list of the tasks that need to occur regularly, determine the times that will be best for each, and then block periods for each of them.
For example, you know youâll need to get the kids up each morning, check your email for the day, make lunches, choose outfits, get homework done and read bedtime stories. In this case, you might determine that youâll make lunches every night as youâre also making dinner so theyâre ready the night before, and youâll lay out outfits each night as well. Youâll also get up an extra 10 minutes early, so you have time to check whatâs coming up at work. And youâll block time after school for 30 minutes of playtime followed by homework time and bedtime.
Do what works best for you, but make plans, block time and monitor outcomes so you can continuously improve your routines.
Back to school is busy and it can also be rewarding.
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3. Get Help from Others
As youâre establishing habits, also determine who can help. Reach out to your neighbor and make plans to share the driving for after-school pick up. Create a snack schedule for the parents who will take the granola bars and water to football practices. Agree with your partner that youâll make lunches on odd-numbered days and theyâll make lunches on even-numbered days.
Also consider the support you may need at work. Connect with your teammates to determine ways you can support each other with shared responsibilities. Look ahead to your regular meetings and collaborate with a colleague to update each other in case either of you will need to miss meetings because of school demands.
3. Involve Kids in the Process
Another unexpected but powerful way to establish routines is to involve kids in the process. Include them in obtaining school supplies, selecting their outfits, setting clothes out the night before and planning for the time theyâll protect for homework.
When children are involved, it can help relieve responsibility but also create a sense of agency for children which contributes to their esteem and confidence. According to a survey by Talker Research, 62% of parents let their children choose clothing and select school supplies. And 56% involve their kids in choosing what extracurriculars theyâll pursue.
4. Make it Visible
Use visual tools and time management aids. Sometimes we think of using these for younger children, but ironically, they can be helpful at any age.
Create a chart for completing homework or make a paper chain for the number of days before school starts. Keep your calendar in a prominent location with key dates marked on it, including your work trip, your big project and your daughterâs violin recital.
Especially when youâre facing a lot of stress, making things tangible and visible can provide a sense of control and empowerment.
5. Stay Connected
Another way to manage your routines is to be sure and talk things through with your partner, friends and your kids. Sometimes, the focus during back-to-school can be all about logistics and schedules but be sure you stay connected with others and with your children.
If youâre stressed about being stressed and running in all directions to do all the things, you can undermine your own sense of calm. Instead, if you can share your concerns with trusted adults and talk openly with your children about their worries, it can enhance your feelings of connection and reduce the stress youâre feeling.
Feeling personally supported and also offering empathy to others (including your kids) are strongly correlated with reduced stress. Youâll still be facing all the demands, but youâll have a greater sense of wellbeing as you do.
Why Back to School Is Stressful
But why are routines important in the first place and where does the stress arise? Is it legit that parents feel so stressed? How does the transition from summer break to school impact working parents? And where do the difficulties or obstacles arise?
Itâs helpful to just understand and validate what the challenges are. They fall into a few key areas:
- Struggles with time management, logistics and school-year responsibilities. From making lunches to coordinating the car pool schedule, there is just more to manage. Fully 87% of parents say they face these issues, and the typical parent spends 17 hours a week managing back-to-school tasks, according to Life360.
- Struggles with childcare. Often, summer childcare needs are different than those during the school year, and the transition in schedules or in care providers can be a lot to handle.
- Struggles with work. Many working parents have difficulty navigating the demands of work and life. Arranging meetings so that you can pick up the kids after school, managing the process if you need to go out of town or shifting your hours to accommodate new school demands can be tough. And itâs a large swath of us who face these kinds of challenges because about 40% of employees are also parents with children under 18, according to data from Glassdoor. And 74% of moms and 94% of dads who work outside the home also have children who are under 18, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Struggles with emotions and thinking. Another significant area of concern is in supporting children who may have concerns at school. Itâs a natural time of growth as kids navigate friends, communication, new teachers and homework. All of this can impact on parents as we ensure weâre supporting our kids.
The takeaway message? Thereâs a lot to manage, and good reasons to be stressed for working moms and dads. But youâre not alone. In fact, for 44% of parents, back-to-school season is the most stressful time of the year, even more than birthdays or holidays, according to Life360.
Give yourself permission to feel the pressure, take a deep breath and move forward one step at a time.
Create Positive Back-to-School Experiences
If youâre able to manage through the pressure of back to school and stay calm, your kids will be able to stay more calm as well. Your children are learning from how you handle work and life. Of course youâll have ups and downs and there will be periods with more pressure, as well as periods of less challenge along the way.
Remind yourself that youâre capable and that this is a season of life that youâre in. Back to school is busy, but it can also be rewarding. You can expand your own resilience and deepen relationships with your children as they (and you!) are developing through each school year.
Data on employees with children from Glassdoor:
Data on working moms and dads from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics:
