More Back to School Tips

As a follow up to yesterday's post on Back to School meal planning tips, I wanted to share a link with you in today's Washington Post on family organization tips for back to school. The tips are based on Lea Schneider's book "Growing Up Organized: A Mom-toMom Guide." The thing I really like about her approach is that it's about instilling organization tips in your children, so they learn to do it for themselves. Right before our youngest was born, I put the then-5 year olds through a week of "Camp Independence." During that week, I taught the boys how to do the "morning routine" (fold PJs, get dressed, make bed, make cereal, aka "Breakfast appetizer") and evening routine (bath, PJs, reading) on their own. That help was invaluable as I juggled a newborn and a new job. This year the 7 year olds are going to work on unloading and sorting their backpacks after school, keeping up with their own sports equipment and maybe, just maybe, packing their own lunches.