I think I owe a great many people in my life an apology.
I had NO IDEA there was so much paperwork and communication associated with children in school. I am pretty sure in just one day last week, I had 6 separate emails from my daughter’s school, ranging from teacher newsletter and classroom updates to messages from the PTA. And then she came home with 3 flyers talking about upcoming events, a fundraiser pamphlet, 4 pictures she drew in class, a copy of her progress report and a scholastic book order form. And this is just coming from my oldest’s school. I haven’t even counted in what made it’s way home from my youngest’s preschool. (Maybe don’t look in my car because I am pretty sure I deliberately left her artwork in the backseat so I don’t have to deal with it today.)
It has quickly become apparent that my family’s monthly calendar is NOT big enough to fit all of the important dates, events, appointments and general life things I need it to reflect. Or maybe my handwriting just has to get smaller? Hmmm.........
Have I told you yet that I am sorry?
Whether you thrive on being organized, or strive to be but feel like you don’t have a grasp, let me share with you that I get it. What I have learned in this process of being “the organizer” is that no matter how organized an area of your home or life is, it will not stay that way without maintenance and adjustments over time. We all have to adjust and modify our methods depending on the stage of life we and those in our households are in at the moment.
My driving motivators to get and stay on top of this school communication is two-fold.
1: I don’t want my daughter to be sent to school missing something I was supposed to include like book fair money, or a signed and returned piece of paper for the teacher.
And 2: I want my countertops free and clear of paper clutter.
If you are like me, and worry that you have sent your child to school missing something they might need, or want a way to stay on top of all of the communication coming your way, here are my thoughts on how to achieve organized mom status.
1. Be/Become a List Maker
I am a huge promoter of lists. All things you need to accomplish within the day that are not part of your normal routine, should be written in the form of a To-Do list.
Our brains are very busy. Even though at six o’clock in the morning you remember you need to pick up your child from school instead of having them ride the bus, when two o’clock rolls around you might be focused on something else and not remember on time.
2. Sync Schedules
Keep a current monthly calendar in a central area of your home that you can add important dates to as they arise. Each member of the family will be able to see and reference this calendar daily, and it will act as a visual reminder for what you have going on that day and throughout the weeks ahead.
For the families with tween and teenage children who have their own phones and their own full schedules of extra curricular activities, I suggest looking into a free scheduling app, like Cozi that will allow each individual in the family to input upcoming events on their personal schedule that will sync to the entire family’s schedule so that everyone can see and have access to this information.
3. Adopt an In/Out Strategy for Paperwork
Here is an example of a simple command center I created in a client’s home - the bulletin board is the perfect spot for lunch menus and schedules.
Make it part of your daily evening routine to go through each child’s school bag/folder, sign off on what you need to sign, store for future reference any school communication, decide what artwork to keep/discard, add to the calendar any upcoming important dates/deadlines, etc.
In order to ensure the papers that need to stay in the home for the time being do not take over your counter or tabletop, each school-aged child should have their own “mailbox”. Whether you decide to set up cubbies, file folders, paper trays or wall mounted storage, it should be an area large enough to hold ongoing school projects, progress reports, fundraising paperwork, cafeteria menus, etc.
To ensure these mailboxes don’t become a dumping ground and important papers won’t get lost in the shuffle, I suggest having individual files within for the various categories of paperwork to be stored here.
Consider labeling the files for each child into these 3 categories:
School
Extracurricular
Social
I also suggest these be easy to access. If you have the space in your main entry/exit point of your home or in the kitchen to set up a wall mounted, open top system you will be able to quick sort papers and grab what you need in a timely manner. This is also venturing into family command center territory, which I discussed the major components of as a guest on my friend and mental wellness coach for moms, Kelly Stanley’s recent video blog. If you missed it and would like to see what I said, you can watch it here .
4. Know When to Say “No”
There are only so many birthday parties, volunteer opportunities and after school activities we can reasonably fit into our schedules.
My daughters, our dog and me - taking some time to slow down and enjoy a little family time.
If you worry that your child will be the only one not participating and will feel left out, let me assure you it will be O.K. Sticking to a schedule during the school week is so important for everyone in the household. You can’t be your best self if you are stretched too thin and your children certainly won’t be functioning at 100% if they are overtired.
The more comfortable you get with saying “No”, the more you are putting yourself and your family’s best interests first.
Often, this is best learned by trial and error. If you said yes to a birthday party on a Monday night, and it turned out that you and your child(ren) stayed up too late, didn’t get homework completed, the next morning was frantic because the previous night’s schedule was thrown off, etc., you will know the next time a weekday birthday party invite is sent your way to experiment with saying “no” and see how this positively affects you and your family.
5. Embrace Your Quirks
I remind my husband at least once a month that he fell in love with my quirks. Oh and he LOVES to be reminded about this. In all seriousness, though, we are all going to make mistakes. I just like to refer to my repeat mistakes as quirks.
On occasion, we are going to forget to do/say/send something that will impact our children. It is how you rebound from these moments that will resonate with your child. Just love them. Apologize. Own it. Be calm and cool in the moment. We are all human, we error and our children need to see us reacting in a way that teaches them it is ok to make a mistake and says more about who we are the way we recover in these moments.
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on my tips to being the organized mom! What is one of your best practices? Which of these tips are you ready to implement today? Drop a comment below, and please share my blog on social media if you like what you read!
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