Since my kids go back to school tomorrow, I thought today would be a good day for a run-through. You know, get everyone up and ready at an hour that would at least allow me to pretend that we have a shot of getting out the door without complete chaos tomorrow.
I can report, based on how our trial run went, that my children are on track to have a seamless, meltdown-free, out-the-door-on-time morning by May 7, 2027. By then, I’ll only have two to get off to school, so that might actually be a possibility.
But whether we’re ready or not, school is starting back up. Not like I needed to tell you that since there’s 9 million commercials and ads and everything else asking you, “Are you ready for back to school?” (We’re totally at part of that 9 million.) If you’re like me, it’s probably a combination of elation over the fact that the day you’ve been counting down to since the last day of school has finally arrived and “If you mean, ‘Do I have all the stuff and am I ready to have to have them out the door by a very strict start time?’, umm… kind of.”
But here’s the thing about being “back-to-school” ready. Once you’ve bought the box of No. 2 pencils and washable markers and 17 glue sticks, I’ve found back-to-school is just like all the other things surrounding parenting. You kind of wing it as you go along – and to be honest, it usually seems to work out.
Now maybe you are not the wing-it type. Maybe you drilled your kid on multiplication tables over the summer and enforced your “one hour of reading” every night rule. In which case, your kids’ lunches are probably already packed and their school pants are pressed and hung, just waiting to be worn.
Or maybe you’re like me and found your kid’s “8 Weeks of Summer Learning Packet” untouched under the bed a week before school started and you still have to figure out how you’re going to bring in your daughter’s skirt yourself because it’s way too late to take it to the seamstress at the dry cleaner but if you don’t come up with something it’s going to fall off her.
Either way, it’ll be OK.
This is totally the part where I tell you that you should check out and have your kids play our games because they actually will help your kids get back-to-school ready. Maybe not “dressed with their shoes on and by the door with time to spare” ready, but brushed up on their multiplication/division/fractions/middle school statistics ready. . If you’ve already started school, our games ca help get back in the swing of being back in school. They not only teach math — and language arts (Making Camp: Premium, AzTech) and Spanish (Making Camp: Bilingual, AzTech) — but they’re fun to play.
I’m not just saying that. As my 10-year-old daughter mused after playing through all 56 activities (math, language arts and history) in Making Camp: Premium, “Whoa, I did a lot of math. I feel smarter.”
And let’s be honest, now that school is back in session (or almost back in session, depending on where you live), you’ve got enough to stress over. Like how on earth you’re going to get your children out the door and at school before lunch time.