Congratulations! You’ve made it through the crazy first weeks of the school year! The kids are making their buses with healthy bagged lunches, you’ve acquired all the school supplies and been to an open house or two. Everything seems to be working for your family. But is it working for you?
Now that you have spent all this energy making sure everyone else in the family is adjusted to the new school year and the new school routine, it’s time to take a step back and make sure it’s working for you. Are you getting what you need in terms of balance? Is your schedule up in the air still or are you settling in, too? If not, what do you need to feel settled?
Step back, take a breath
Getting the family on track for a good school year is hard work and not to be dismissed. You should congratulate yourself. But while you are doing that, take stock. Everyone else may be on track, but are you? Are you already feeling like you are doing too much driving, have committed to too much volunteering, or maybe the work deadlines are feeling crushingly close with the homework help you have to give in the evenings. Be honest with yourself: Is this really working? If it’s not comfortable, you need to make it so.
Tweaks here and there
Look at what you can tweak. Will a small change – such as moving your daughter’s karate class to the class an hour later, or moving your volunteering day – give you breathing room? Did you just plain overcommit and now have to pull back? Don’t waste any more time feeling guilt about it, do it. Maybe you can fill back in when you feel more settled later, but you sanity is more important here!
Ask for help
If you need to, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Whether it’s creating a carpool for some mutual mom benefit, or finding a tutor for your son to relieve you of math stress, it’s not wrong to ask for help. Barter services if you need to, but get some assistance to make sure you are going to have a good school year, too.
Moms are so much to so many – but they can’t be everything to everybody. Taking care of yourself as the whole family adjusts to the school year is as important as any other part of school year adjustment. Make sure the school year is working for all of you – emphasis on YOU!
More of our Monday Mom challenge:
More Stories from Parenting
Leave a Comment