Getting back into the routine school time demands offers no easy feat, especially with the extended stay home this year. Getting on a schedule (in bed before 9pm, dinner before 7 etc.) needs to fall back into its place and ideally, as seamless as possible.
Having three kids myself and being a business owner can provide a less than ideal amount of stress. This time of year for me personally, I ALWAYS find myself more stressed out vs any other (with the exception of maybe tax time).
I love summer, so I’m partial to this phenomenon; but I recognize the deep need for a much needed slow down of life. Summers we go hard, living it up every day the best we can. In Michigan, it’s a short season so I feel like it comes to a screeching halt, leftover from a party that I need to veg out from.
I’m thankful for the extended summer time we were given to have more intimate moments with family. I was even able to get some organization done with decluttering and purging of a lot of unnecessary things.
As I begin to get rid of this unnecessary ‘stuff”, I find a relief in anxiety stemming from it. The 2020-21 school year is going to look a little different for us; here at the Neil residence, we plan to do virtual learning. So the cleanse extended into my kids spaces, which in turn meant they needed to get rid of some stuff too.
The brief time we got to experience virtual learning last year, we found a lot of bumps in the road, that I hope we have learned from;
- Organized space of learning is REQUIRED- My kids felt that learning at home meant the freedom of learning where they wanted to learn, which didn’t pan out so hot. Structure starts in the home. Period. An organized, intentional “own” space of learning is a must this time around.
- Virtual learning means A LOT of technology time (which I slightly dread for this generation). We started limiting the amount of time our children were allowed on a device. This was prudent for a healthy grasp on the privileges and responsibility this offers and requires.
- Sleep. Kids need it more than us adults do. But are they really getting enough? Experts say, no. Most kids don’t get enough sleep. They need nearly 10 to 11 hours a night, but most get only about 9.5. – Establish a down time (even if it’s 7:30pm) Ideally to be asleep by 8 pm. Perhaps reading time. Night time routines like washing face with warm water, brushing teeth and fixing chamomile tea. Turning off the wireless router for WIFI to help natural melatonin production. Staying off electronics at a certain time, say 7pm. These are all things worth implementing to make this transition smoother.
- As these times present a lot of firsts for all of us, I think we need to be mindful of our littles threshold for this new stress. I am personally passionate about the development in our youth for both body, mind and spirit. COVID is an ACES* in the making. My goal is to create an abundant amount of positive memories; because these times are not only going to act as the academic development but also as the epigenetic engineer in your child’s development.
- Nutrition; food is fuel. Having healthy snacks like veggies and fruits available, instead of less nutrient dense foods like chips and cookies. This keeps kids from eating too many empty calories. Try to think of snack times as additional opportunities during the day for kids to eat more of the foods they might not be getting enough of in their main meals.
We are all battling to figure out what is the best mode and method for our madness. I hope these times offer a new thought process for the future in education. As we make revolutionary changes in our education system, extend grace to our teachers, have patience with our littles and have faith in the process. We got this!
* ACES https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/index.html
