Straight Talk About Special Needs with Mecca Robbins
Q A
Mecca, any tips on getting ready for school or being organized for school?
It’s hard to believe that the summer is almost over. The wonderful, not-too- structured days of using the most of our (cooler) evening daylight and sleeping a bit later are drawing to an end. When I
think about school and organization, the very best tip I can share is something I learned a couple of years ago: Do not be the cog in the wheel (This seems to mean “Don’t be what stops the wheel from turning” but that doesn’t make sense. Is this common parlance? If so OK, but to me it’s confusing … a cog makes a wheel GO, not stop). What I mean by this is, when I had painful experiences with my kids: hectic mornings, a single lost shoe, a wardrobe melt-down (“I hate this shirt, mom!”), long-term project not started that was due the next day… fill in the blank with your issue… if I was not on top of my game, the kids could not be on theirs. As the adult leader of the kids’ schedules, I have found that I absolutely, positively, must be READY for my day before they wake up. As a result, I get up much earlier than anyone in my family so that I can have the time I need to do whatever it is that I deem important (that could be exercise, a shower, quiet time, coffee time, email time, etc.) so that those things that I desperately want done are complete before I am needing to direct my small army and get them off to (four different) schools.
If I’m on my game, my kids have the best shot at being on their game. I can help them, undistracted, with
28 North Texas Kids • August 2011 •
www.NorthTexasKids.com
whatever comes up in those precious minutes before school starts. If my son wants to cook himself an egg – I am there to supervise. If my daughter is making poor choices about what is going in her lunch box, then I can be there to calmly discuss nutrition with her and help her make wise choices – instead of feeling like I am about to blow because she’s put in 2 bags of chips, gummy snacks, and a fruit rollup. (And dumping it in the trash and telling her to start over which has been done in a state of panic before too!) OF COURSE we have rules that help our house function. The school morning rules:
NO TV or Electronics until: • You are fully dressed down to your shoes • Your breakfast is eaten • Your bed is made • Your teeth are brushed • Your hair is combed (and for girls, if a braid is desired, this is included)
• Your lunch is in your backpack • Your snack is in your backpack • Your homework is in your backpack (this includes the show-n-tell item for the preschooler)
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