by Janet Schiesl

It’s that exciting Back-to-School time of year. This involves a change of schedules, an influx of paperwork and a lot of time management for you, your children and your family as a whole. At this time of year routines are very important.

Three Back-to-School Routines to Help with Time Management:

• Delegating a backpack routine to each child will give your children responsibility for their own stuff and take the work for of your shoulders. Emptying their backpacks every afternoon of all their past school work, notes from school or teachers and homework will give you the opportunity to evaluate the situation on a regular basis. Talk your kids through what needs to be done with each item and then move forward to get it done. It’s like a daily team meeting at work. Keep it short, then move on.
• With increased after school activities like sports practices and music lessons will make a dinner routine challenging to say the least. But this is why it is very important. The ability to stay in touch with your kids and your spouse by checking in at the dinner table will keep you connected and aware of what is going on. Set a goal of the number of days you will all dine together and plan your meals for these days. You’ll be more likely to achieve your goal with a little planning.
• A bedtime routine will make the evenings run smoothly and everyone will be better rested each morning. Once the routine is established everyone will know what is expected. Kids often thrive on routines and at that time of the day you’ll appreciate things running smoothly.

As your family’s manager, it’s important to set individualized routines that will work for you. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. If it works for you – it works!

Janet Schiesl is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization. She and her team of employees provide professional organizing services to busy families, home-based business owners and moving clients in the Northern Virginia and Washington DC Metro area. Janet is a member of the Washington DC and Virtual Chapters.