Bloom Into You

Breakfast is a meal that many of us miss.  We’re too tired, not hungry that early, or simply don’t have time to eat something healthy.  Between getting the kids out the door to school and getting your husband to work, who has time to make a piping hot breakfast every morning?  Certainly not this momma!  With a little planning and preparation, you can have a quick and healthy breakfast every morning.  Here are a few of my favorite grab and go foods:

Homemade Granola Bars:

Why go for packaged, processed, sugar filled store-bought granola when it’s so easy to make your own?  There are many different recipes for homemade granola and granola bars.  Some are filled with dried fruits, nuts and seeds, others with oats, peanut butter and chocolate chips.  I like to make a big pan on Sunday, cut into bars and store in snack-size ziplock bags.  They are perfect for eating on the run and getting some nutrients in your body before you start your day.  To find a recipe that suits your taste buds, simply do an online search or check out my family’s favorites under my recipes tab.

Mini-Quiches:

Quiche is great because it combines the protein of an egg with the nutrients of pretty much any vegetable you want.  There’s no limit to what you can put into a quiche, so you can make varieties your whole family will love.

To adapt your favorite quiche recipe to grab-and-go, simply line muffin tins with paper cupcake liners and divide combined ingredients between the cups.  Bake at 350* for about 20 minutes.  Cool completely and store in quart-sized freezer bags and freeze.  When you’re ready to eat them, remove them from the freezer bag and heat in the microwave for 30-60 seconds.  Grab it… and go!  The paper liner even allows for easy eating in the car.

Smoothies:

I love smoothies because they come together quickly and are packed with vitamins. Throw in a few scoops of protein powder, and you’ve got a power-packed breakfast drink to keep you going all morning long! For one serving, combine a cup of fresh or frozen fruit, milk or juice, protein powder and ice.  Blend until smooth and enjoy.  Experiment with different ingredients like peanut butter, bananas and cocoa powder or for a fruity taste of the islands, try adding coconut milk to strawberries and pineapple.  The options are endless!  To make your smoothie ahead, simply pour blended ingredients into individual paper cups, cover with plastic wrap and freeze.   Move from freezer to fridge the night before and come morning you will have a perfectly cold, slushy smoothie waiting for you.

The Double-Batch:

Saturday mornings are usually the day my family enjoys a big, hot, homemade breakfast together.  Our favorites are pancakes and waffles, so often I will make a double or triple batch and put some in the freezer for the following week.  Re-heating homemade pancakes or waffles is more cost-effective than store-bought frozen pancakes and waffles, and this way I know the quality of food my family is getting.  To prepare, just remove from the freezer and heat up in the toaster.  Done!

Turn knife-and-fork foods into finger foods:

Just about any food can be converted to a grab and go food!  Try cutting up meats like sausage or ham and placing them on a wooden skewer with pieces of cut up pancake or waffle.  On a different skewer, place a variety of cut up fruit and… and just like that you have a complete and balanced meal the kids can take in the car.

The sky is the limit!  So make some plans, prepare ahead, use your imagination and enjoy the most important meal of the day!

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You’re late getting the kids to school.  They overslept (or was it you?).  Their lunches aren’t made and their homework is scattered around the house.  You get them dressed (was that shirt clean or dirty, you really aren’t sure), pray all their school work made it into the right backpack and jump in the car.  You have five minutes to spare when you realize you have no cash to give them for lunch money.  Like a mad woman, you head for the nearest grocery store to pick up some Lunchables… oh, and breakfast!  A doughnut will do, right?  You’re less than two feet out of your driveway when the gas light comes on.

This was all too familiar at our house and we only live five minutes from school!  Trust me, the story I just told you is nothing compared to some of the crazy mornings we’ve had.  I tried all sorts of different tips and techniques friends and other mothers willingly offered me…and I could pull just about anything off once or twice, but getting new patterns down consistently was another story.  I realized it would take more than just the “idea” of better organizing our time.  It would mean re-training the entire family; myself included.  Following is a list of steps I take to make our mornings run more smoothly.

Step One: Do as much as you can the night before.

I know this may sound like a “Duh, yeah, OK” statement, but this was harder than I thought to master.  I’d catch myself in traps like “It will only take 5 minutes to make lunches in the morning.” Or, “It doesn’t matter if the kids lay out clothes the night before, because they will change their mind in the morning, anyway.” What I learned was: it always takes more than five minutes to make a lunch, and even if the kids change an outfit two times, if they are the ones to pick out their clothes the night before, they will most likely want to wear the outfit the next day.  You may be tired and ready for bed, but by making preparations at night, you free time up for last minute morning mishaps like “I can’t find my other shoe,”, “The rubber band is stuck in my hair”, and “Honey, I need help tying my tie!” The bottom line is this:  something unexpected will happen every morning.  If you do what you can the night before, you will have time to deal with the unexpected.

Step Two: Think with the whole week in mind.

Along with doing as much as you can the night before, be mindful of the in-school activities your children have for the week.  If PE is on Tuesday be sure PE shoes go into the schoolbag on Monday.  If Library is Thursday, check Wednesday to be sure the library books are ready to return to school.  So many times I took my daughter’s word for what she had going on at school that day, and it often led to her coming home in tears saying she had the wrong shoes for PE or couldn’t check out any library books because she forgot to turn hers in.  Most elementary school teachers send home a calendar at the beginning of the week/month outlining these things, so use it!  Don’t lose it.

Step Three: Get the kids involved.

It seems I’m always behind the curve when it comes to handing out appropriate responsibility to my daughter.  I thought I was doing great when at seven years old she was making her own bed, only to learn that one of my friend’s sons at age seven was helping to do his own laundry!  It is important to give your kids some concrete tasks to help with when it comes to getting ready for school.  I find that the more I trust my daughter to do, the more she wants to do, and the more she wants to do, the more she impresses me with what she can handle.  It’s when I have unclear expectations of her that she gets lost and has to guess what I want her to do or not to do, and fighting always follows.  You can’t win if you don’t know what’s expected of you.  So be clear and keep it simple.  Maybe every Sunday the whole family helps prepare snacks for the school week, and veggies and fruits for lunches. Have a space where every day after school, the kids can put their notebook and lunch box so it’s there ready for you.  In the morning, whose job is it to take the dog out?  Who helps with breakfast? Make decisions and have a chart so everyone knows who’s on what duty for the day.

Step Four: Be consistent.

It’s understandable that changes like this will take some time to implement fully.  You’ll probably never have a perfect week, and there will be days when no matter what you do, your entire system will fail you.  It’s OK.  Prepare for that.  It’s going to happen!  But, the more consistent you are in developing these tools and systems, the better off you will be.  If you succeed two days in a row and take the third day off, what do you suppose will happen on the fourth day? Things will go right back to the way they were, and it will be that much harder when you try again the next day.  Lead by example.  If you stick to it, the kids will stick to it.  If you get frustrated and call the whole thing a loss, so will the kids.  Even if you feel like ripping your hair out, do whatever you can to keep a calm exterior and stick with the routine.  It will take some time, but you will get there!

Step Five: Enjoy!

Once you start getting the hang of this, celebrate!  Even little milestones deserve recognition and praise.  Try to compliment your kids every morning on the things they are doing well;  don’t dwell on areas they may fall short.  By pointing out the positives rather than the negatives,  you are giving them confidence and making them feel good about themselves.  Rather than feeling like they are failing, your praises help them feel they are succeeding.  So even when things aren’t going exactly as you planned, find the good in the situation and speak it. Remember, changes like this aren’t easy and you’ve come a long way, too.  So, give yourself a pat on the back and enjoy your new found mornings!

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Sleep:  

Transitioning from summer to school sleep is one of the hardest transitions you and your child will go through when school time rolls around.  Even if you kept your children on modest bedtimes and got them up fairly early most days during the summer, the flip from summer sleep to school sleep can be a tiring one! So don’t wait until the last minute and hope for the best; start early so their sleep pattern can change gradually.

At my house, I like to start two weeks before the first day of school.  Bed time in general is a struggle at our house, so I need all the time I can get!  I start by taking five minutes off our summer bedtime every night.  I find that the first few nights are hardly noticed, but once we shave twenty minutes off; resistance starts.  That is why it is important to allow yourself more nights than you need to get the bedtime where you want it to be for school.  A good rule of thumb is for every 15 minutes of earlier bedtime, allow at least four days.  It is a slow and gradual process, but because of its pace any tantrums or anxiety should be almost nonexistent.  In the same way, you can also start getting your child up five minutes earlier every morning.

    By making gradual changes you:

• give your child time to adjust to the new schedule   
• allow your child’s sleep pattern to change gradually and naturally, and
• leave space and time for minor set backs

Back-to-school shopping:

Shopping for school clothes is something most children have fun with, but it can put a stress on parents’ wallets.  So, rather than do all of our shopping at once, I like to break it up.  I start by going through my daughter’s closet and having her try on anything that looks like it could be too small, because once I know what I’m working with at home, I know what I need to get at the store.  (It’s also an easy excuse to get their closets and dressers organized for those busy school mornings).  When it’s time to shop, I, like most mothers, watch for sales and head to the places where I can get the best deal.   

A week or two before school starts; I make a date with my daughter.  We spend the whole day together and begin our search for the perfect First Day of School Outfit.  It’s fun trying on clothes, shoes, and accessories.  She will inevitably find more than one outfit, and I make mental notes of these so I can come back when everything is on clearance and stock up.  After shopping, we end the day with lunch or pedicures – something special where we can talk and have some good quality time together.  By putting more emphasis on the first day of school, I am able to create a day that is special, rather than running from store to store fighting crowds and trying on a hundred different things.  

If you have boys or more than one child, get a little creative.  Maybe dad comes shopping too, and each child gets a turn one on one with each parent, or maybe dad takes the boys shopping and leaves the girls at home.  There are plenty of ways to make this a special outing and create excitement over the first day of school… and keep your wallet just a little bit fuller.  Happy shopping!

School Station

When school starts, so do the papers!  Calendars, homework, newsletters, classroom announcements, school announcements, notes from the teacher… it never ends!  Many schools are making the switch to a more paperless way of functioning by communicating through email and posting information on their school websites, but even with that switch, it seems like papers still fly home at record speed (at least at my house).  So, make it easy on yourself and on your child: designate a special place where every day, all these things go.

It is important to make this spot convenient and realistic.  I tried once to have my daughter put everything on our desk upstairs, but I didn’t go upstairs regularly and often forgot to check.  Papers seemed to end up on our kitchen counter no matter what I tried, so I finally made that space work for me – it’s all about using what works for your family.  I cleared out a little patch of counter on the outside of my kitchen and got two file folders.  One is labeled “IN” and one is labeled “OUT.”  My daughter knows that anything she brings home that Mom needs to look at goes into the “IN” folder.  It is my responsibility to check the folder and if it is empty, I will double check with her to be sure that she didn’t forget.  My daughter in turn knows to check the “OUT” folder.  In it will go things like signed permission slips or notes to her teacher.  At the beginning, it will be important to check your children’s backpacks and notebooks to be sure they haven’t missed anything.  Overtime, they will get into the habit and your double checking should be able to taper off.  

You may need to tailor this based on the number of children you have and their ages.  I find that this sort of system works well for mid-elementary through high school aged kids.  You will find that not only are you teaching your children responsibility, you are also preparing them to enter the workforce.  By making them responsible for checking the in and out folders, you are laying the foundation for continuing growth of basic organizational skills and responsibilities they will use throughout high school and into college.

Homework/Studying

Every student needs a good place to study.  This place should be away from areas the family gathers, TV, and any other situations that could cause distractions.  A good desk or workspace is a must, with plenty of space for books and papers.  Access to a computer could be useful, although you will need to monitor their use of the Internet during study time.  Available pens, pencils, rulers, calculator and paper will decrease the time your child will get up and down searching for things they need.  So, be sure this work space is stocked with any tool they will need to complete their homework.  Buying extras of supplies they use at school (like a calculator, for instance) will also insure your child will be able to do the work even if he/she forgets something at school.

Depending on the age of your child there may be nights when they have no homework.  It is still important to maintain good study habits, so send them up to their workspace with a review of last week’s work, flashcards for an upcoming test, or a few extra problems to solve from a subject that is difficult for them.  When all else fails, send them with a book or a National Geographic magazine!  The important thing is to keep the study time consistent regardless of how much work they bring home.  You don’t need to lock them in the office studying for hours; just a little bit on a night when they don’t have anything can make a big difference.  

School Celebration

Celebrate the new school year!  A few days before school starts, plan a party.  Wake your kids up at six a.m., lead them to the kitchen and surprise them with dessert first!  What kid wouldn’t want to eat dessert for breakfast?  The minute they see the ice cream sundae or chocolate cake, they will forget that you dragged them out of bed so early. (Go all out: blow up balloons and decorate with crepe paper.  It is, after all, a party).   After dessert is over, continue the celebration over a nice breakfast.  Fix at least one of each child’s favorite dishes.  Talk about the exciting things coming up this school year.  My daughter, for example, is going into the fourth grade and will get to participate in the Science Fair.  Celebrate being a year older and another grade higher.  After breakfast, take a family outing to a park, go for a walk or bike ride together, or go to the pool.  It will still be early and you should have the whole place to yourself.  A morning like this could be just what the doctor ordered to get your kids excited to start school.

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