Moms Q&A: Change in School Routines

Moms Talk is a feature on Patch that is part of an initiative on our sites to reach out to moms and families. Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in the East Windsor-Hightstown-Cranbury area.

Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council, which includes Susan Masone, Siri Heinrichs, Cristina Fowler, Christine O'Brien and our intrepid columnist Lauren Kim, takes your questions, gives advice and shares solutions to the problems vexing all of us.

Have a question you would like to share, or just want to provide your opinion on the question of the week? Head over to the comments section to do just that.

So grab a cup of coffee and settle in as we start the conversation today with the following question:

Now that you have two weeks of the new school year under your belt, what in your family's school routine will you modify or do differently?

Susan Masone: Two weeks feels like a drop in the bucket. We were spoiled over the summer with no homework, projects, sports, activities, etc.

Now that everything is in full force, we came up with a solution. We have a big calendar that will go on the fridge. It has to be color coded for each girl. Every daily activity needs to go on this calendar. I am responsible for the standard events such as girl scouts meetings, soccer games and piano practice times. The girls are responsible for putting on the calendar the individual activities such as tests/projects and birthday parties.

I am hoping that this will make the transition into a new school year much smoother.

Lauren Kim: The first week of school was a rainy one and last week a busy one, so I drove my kids to and from school every school day. This week, I hope to walk them to school and from school more often. My kids are walkers (and don't take a bus to school), and although the school is directly behind our house, our walk to school is at least three blocks long and takes us at least 15 minutes, because of the extensive fencing that surrounds the school.

Walking (instead of driving to school) is good because we will save on gas, help conserve our Earth’s resources and get more exercise. I just hate seeing all the exhaust coming out of the cars at the school when moms and dads sit there in their idling cars while dropping off or picking up their kids.

Walking to school requires more planning, though, as I need to schedule more time to get to and from school, and in the morning, wake my kids up earlier for their school day. But, it’s a change I hope to make!

Siri Heinrichs: The first week of school was different for us, since last year my daughter was an afternoon kindergartner. We missed the bus completely on day two and had lots of squabbles on the other days because we were rushing.

My change is now I set my alarm about a half hour before they need to be up. This way, I can get my stuff taken care of right off the bat and then focus on the kids. This means I am also waking them up, which is the first time I've had to do that. I hate doing it, but it seems that my first grader does better when she can take her time, and so far this approach has been working. I did ask some friends for some other tips on how to make the morning run smoother. Most of their tips we had already been doing, but they bear repeating here: Put shoes and backpacks by the door where you can find them, make lunch the night before (I even put the entire lunchbox in the fridge so I only have to add an ice pack) and set out clothes for the next day the night before.

The best advice I got by far, though, was to get the wagon out. Part of my frustration was dealing with the 2 and 4 year olds walking down to the bus stop with us. Now they hop into the wagon, and we make it to the end of the street in about six minutes instead of the previous 12. That is a major improvement!

Cristina Fowler: Has it really been two weeks? It’s amazing how time flies when you are having "fun."  I learned early last year that September is simply going to be insane regardless of how much planning and scheduling is in place prior to the race. This year, I am learning that we need more time in the morning.

To accommodate this, we have been heading to bed a little bit earlier so that we can all function in the morning. The children are more refreshed and we are getting out of the house on time! Now if we can just get the after school activities in check...maybe next week?

Christine O’Brien:  Unfortunately, we are not in a routine as of yet, since not every extracurricular activity has started yet. We are hoping to be on a more regulated schedule by mid-October. We would love to modify the schedule to simplify things, but the kids aren’t ready to give up certain activities yet. I did find out that one program will be meeting only once a month, so that freed up a whole Thursday evening.