Preparing Yourself for Back to School

Well, ready or not it’s time for Back to School.  This year, back to school may look very different for everyone, but it still signals the beginning of a “new year” in most households.  There are thousands of articles and posts on the internet of things to do to prepare for back to school, traditions to start, cute lunch boxes to prepare, homework centers to create and healthy after school snacks to serve.  But what I didn’t find was how to prepare yourself, you, the mom. How do you prepare for the ever violent shift from slow summer mornings to the panic of getting out the door first thing in the morning, beginning your lesson plan or logging on to your child’s virtual classroom? This has been an overwhelming and stressful “extended summer” for most of us with lots of things being uncertain, and I am so looking forward to getting back into a routine more than anything.

My goal in starting Magnolia and Honey was to promote a healthy balance of motherhood and remaining true to yourself. So, instead of concentrating completely on things to do to prepare your children for back to school, I want to highlight a few things I think you should be doing to prepare yourself for this season.

Get Up Early

Now is the time to get into the groove of this.  Hopefully you still have a few weeks before school starts to get used to getting up before the kids.  I once read a quote that said, “wake up for your kids, not to your kids.”  I really love that, my days are SO MUCH better when I get up, make my coffee and have a few minutes (or hours) to myself before I have to turn into full on mom mode.  You are already behind from the moment you open your eyes if you wake up with a kid standing next to the bed demanding something. So figure out what works for you, do you want to get up and read for an hour? Get a work out in? Watch TV? Fold clothes? Whatever it is, start getting up early and having some time for yourself.  It can be a challenge some days, but I promise you won’t regret it.  I used to travel a ton for work and we would take super early morning flights which required a 3:30am wake up call. My boss used to tell me, “it only hurts for a second” just that one step out of bed, then you are good.  And its totally true, and I say this in my head almost every morning as I am getting up. 

Really Concentrating on YOUR Health

This is more important than ever this year with the fear of getting sick and Covid spreading.  So whatever back to school looks like for your family, we all know mom doesn’t have time to get sick.  I try to concentrate on 3 things daily that will impact my health: water, workouts and diet. 

Staying hydrated is important, and we don’t do a good job of it as a society. But, it is super important when trying to keep your immune system up.  Keeping hydrated helps flush out any germs your body might be fighting.  Get those ounces in, at least 64 a day, but I normally shoot for at least 80 if not 100 per day.  Yes, you have to pee all day, but you get used to it.

I remember at the beginning of quarantine, every single time I coughed, I thought oh no, this is it, I have Covid.  My chest is definitely tight, I would get into my head and overthink every little thing.  My mom worked for a pulmonologist for years and she used to always tell me that the way to keep your lungs healthy was to make sure you are using them.  That’s why they make patients in the hospital blow on that little contraption that makes the ball jump up and down.  Keep patients using their lungs prevents pneumonia and any other respiratory issues.  So, I was determined to work out daily, not only for my mental health, but to use my lungs and challenge their capacity. 

Using all the muscles in my body to keep them functioning at their highest potential.  I once read in a blog post about working out when you are sick that if your symptoms are from the shoulders up, keep working out, if below the shoulders rest.  So basically, head cold or sinus problems, work out.  If fever, chills, body aches, rest.  The work out helps everything move around and in my experience, if my sinuses are bothering me or I have a head cold a workout almost always makes me feel better.  If you don’t love working out or feel like you don’t have time, dance around the kitchen, go for a walk around the neighborhood or anything to get the blood pumping for a few minutes.  For me, working out has become more about my mental health than physical now, it is the best stress release and makes me feel better every day. It will make you feel like a million bucks, promise.

And lastly, your diet.  I once heard on a podcast, “it’s not flu season, it’s sugar and alcohol season.”  And it was like a light bulb went off in my head.  I don’t typically eat a lot of sweets, I just don’t really crave it, it’s not my thing.  But during the holidays, which now seem to span between Halloween and Mardi Gras (if you live in Louisiana), I tend to indulge more.  And the past two years I got really sick in January.  Once with strep throat and once with the flu, neither of which I’ve had since I was in junior high.  So I was determined this past year to eat better, concentrate on eating more fruits and veggies and to guzzle water like crazy.  And I made it thru January unscathed. 

And I have remained pretty healthy all year, I credit this to really concentrating on these three things.  So, I challenge you to treat the beginning of the school year like your “new year” and go all in on your health.  Drink your water, use your lungs and eat some real food.  Because, now more than ever, momma can not get sick!

Prep Your Lunches Too

In keeping our health in mind, I challenge you to prep your lunch too.  We put so much effort into prepping our kids lunches, making them balanced, healthy and fun.  And then what do we eat for lunch?  I have gotten into a bad habit of not eating lunch and just skipping straight to my afternoon cup of coffee and then I am starving and ‘hangry’ when I am making dinner, it’s not a good combination.  So, for back to school I am concentrating on making my lunches ahead of time too.  Or at least having everything prepped to throw a salad together quickly.  This will be especially important if you are homeschooling or virtual learning. Aaking the time to make your own lunch probably won’t be a priority, so get ahead of it, prep the weekend or night before.  A healthy lunch will make the afternoon so much better.

We are all in this crazy back to school season and with the stress of figuring out the best options for each of our own families, it would be very easy to forget to take care of yourself. I challenge you, now, more than ever to make yourself a priority. If doing all of the above seems too overwhelming, just pick one, and go all in on that for a couple weeks or a month and build from there. We got this.