11 ways to make back to school easy for parents

You slog through back-to-school shopping scooping up new pencil cases, markers and whatever else is scribbled on your school-supply list for the coming year. Maybe you check your child’s shoes to see if those runners can hold pace with the fall’s cross country run or if you need to lay out some cash now for a new pair of kicks. But what else can you do to ensure this will be your most organized school year yet? Here are 11 ways parents can get organized for the reentry rush.

The first week of school often comes with homework for parents too — filling out classroom information forms, signing field trip waivers and media permission slips. But can you recite your child(ren’s) health card numbers off the top of your head? How about the phone number of your emergency contact? Pulling together a packet of information that includes the name and phone number of your family physician, health card information, vaccine dates, emergency contact details, allergy information etc… in advance will make filling-out forms less stressful when the time comes.

Want to help in your child’s classroom this year? Get on it now. “Ensure your volunteer sector checks with the police are done so you can volunteer in the classroom as soon as possible,” says Jennifer Pinarski, a parenting blogger with Today’s Parent magazine. Checks can take time — anywhere from a few weeks to many months, depending on where you live.

With back to school comes back to some regular extracurricular activities. “Register for their fall extracurricular programs now because some programs offer deals for early registration,” suggests Julie Cole, a mom blogger with Yummymummyclub.ca.

Dana Dougherty Reinke, an Oakville mom of three children picks up a new 16-month calendar every fall to get organized. Look for calendars with big boxes with room to fill in appointment information, or that have space for each family member’s activities. Better yet, have a look at the upcoming school year (your school website will likely have it already) and plug in PA days, march break dates, Christmas and stat holidays so they don’t catch you by surprise.

“All the appointments for my kids are done before school including dentist, haircuts and having their eyes checked,” says Cole. “I do these now to avoid missing school for these later.”

Shelling out for the school year is also inevitable so double check that you have a chequebook at the ready and a stash of loonies and toonies for upcoming pizza lunches and school agenda orders.

“Not one of my three kids like the same thing for lunch so I start stocking up on healthy snack and lunch items now that I know they will eat,” says Caroline Fernandez, a family blogger with www.parentclub.ca . “Then I simply mix and match the foods to the kids.”

… for the back-to-school routine. “I make sure the kids do their own share of back to school prep. So my kindergarten child has to hang up his jacket and put away his shoes,” says Fernandez. “And my older kids know that if they don’t clean out their lunch boxes the night before, I won’t make them lunch in the morning.” Other routines to start before fall (depending on the child’s age) include tying shoe laces, opening Tupperware containers, setting up a homework station and emptying backpacks.

Inevitably, elementary school kids are asked to bring in pictures of themselves and their families for the class wall or a project. Avoid the midnight sprint to Walmart to print them out and instead have a batch printed and ready for when they’re called for.

Instead of shelling out for an entire new fall wardrobe and accessories, double check your kid’s incidentals. “I check backpacks and lunch bags to see if they'll hold out for one more year,” says Shannon Carroll Wiedener, a Burlington mom of three boys. “I also check umbrellas to see which have snapped in the waiting-for-the-bus duels.”

Stash a box of dry batter in your freezer or pantry. This way, you’ll have an easy solution for any last minute request for bake sale or party food donations. Add-water mixes are great — you can wake up, stir up the mix, pop it in the oven and have them ready by the time your kids are leaving for school.