Smiling Mom

Seriously, BC said that to me today.    My baby is all grown up.

These are a few pic­tu­res of BC last year just before school began.

Look at those chunky baby-esque cheeks.

A.Dor.Able.

And then today, one year later.  We’ll call this pic­ture Rico.  Suave, that is.

And then there’s eClaire, who coin­ci­den­tally, thought today was her first day of school as well…oops.

BC just before he ente­red his new class.

Pla­ying with old friends from last year.

eClaire seconds before she rea­li­zed that this was in fact NOT her class­room and she was hea­ding home to take a nap.  Next year baby.  Next year.

One more year until kin­der­gar­ten.  Only one more year.

School is back in ses­sion and many of our kids are ending yet another sum­mer of fun and relaxation.

In my ten years of teaching, I’ve encoun­te­red many chil­dren who could have bene­fi­ted from some basic hou­sehold rou­ti­nes.  As a result I’ve com­pi­led a list of healthy habits & rou­ti­nes that help make the tran­si­tion from sum­mer to school much smoother.

1.  Bed­time, bed­time, bed­time.
Your child’s body, age 12 and under, on ave­rage requi­res 10–11 hours of sleep per night.  Every night.  If you have a tee­na­ger, they gene­rally require 8 1/2 hours to 9 1/2 hours of nightly sleep.

Why is this infor­ma­tion impor­tant?  It’s sim­ple.   Kids per­form bet­ter, are able to focus more, and have bet­ter days when they are fully rested.

…sleep depri­va­tion adds up over time, so an hour less per night is like a full night without sleep by the end of the week. Among other things, sleep depri­va­tion can lead to:

• dec­rea­sed attentiveness
• dec­rea­sed short-term memory
• incon­sis­tent performance
• dela­yed res­ponse time

2.  Eat a healthy break­fast each morning.

Make sure that your child’s break­fast con­sists of high-fiber and nutrient-rich whole grains, fruits, and dairy pro­ducts.    Limit the amount of highly refi­ned sugars and car­bohy­dra­tes your child eats each mor­ning.  More sugar in the mor­ning equals a less focu­sed student.

Evi­dence from the report sug­gests that eating break­fast may improve cog­ni­tive func­tion rela­ted to memory, test gra­des, and school attendance.

Eating break­fast, a healthy break­fast, is impor­tant.  VERY important!

3.  Pack a healthy snack.

Around 5 1/2 hours pas­ses bet­ween the time a child eats break­fast to time lunch is ser­ved.  That’s a long time to ask one of our stu­dents to be without food, calm and on task.

Remem­ber to pack a healthy snack each and every day.

Not coo­kies or sugary, pre­pac­ka­ged foods. But healthy foods such as fruit, vege­ta­bles, cheese, or dried fruits & nuts.

4. Rou­tine, rou­tine, routine!!

Create a rou­tine your child can count on for the after-school hours.  Have a spe­cial spot for home­work com­ple­tion and make clear how much rest time your child has prior to begin­ning home­work.  Have a set din­ner­time and bedtime.

Having a family rou­tine can create a sense of secu­rity.  When a child feels safe and secure at home, he/she always per­forms bet­ter at school.

Good luck and have a won­der­ful school year!!

Ori­gi­nal Sili­con Valley Moms Blog post.

Another one bites the dust…milestones I mean.

(On our way to BC’s first day of school)

(Seriously Dad, how many pic­tu­res are you going to take??)

(Wai­ting, anxiously, mom that is)

(BC: They had an arti­cu­la­ted fire truck there!!)

(Mommy’s sob lea­ving sob now sob)
(BC: What? You’re still here??!! )

OK, I tried to go word­less today, I just can’t seem to do so. I was fine, totally fine with drop­ping BC off to school yes­ter­day. I was tea­sing Hubby because he had taken like 100+ pho­tos, no joke, when he said, “Hey, I’m not the one who brought a video camera.” as he turns and points to the man next to us.

SM: Gasp A video camera! I didn’t think about a video camera!!

And it hit me like a wall. Emo­tion, that is. It was all I could do to con­ceal choppy attempts to get air into my lungs. And the tears! They were welling up in my eyes. My baby is get­ting so old. He’s in school now.

This is the emo­tion the kids lear­ned about today. Sad­ness, strange for the first day, don’t you think?

When BC got home he was so exci­ted about school and wan­ted to go back, “for days and days!!”

For Grand­mas, Aunts, Cou­sins, and those bloggy-curious types, there are more flickr pho­tos here to view.

Last Tues­day Hubby and I had a brand new expe­rience. We sat in the audience at BC’s preschool open house. Usually I’m the one on stage ham­ming it up in front of 200 parents. But not tonight. We sat like every other mom and dad get­ting ready to send their dar­ling 3 year old off to preschool for the first time.

We deci­ded months ago that BC nee­ded to attend an aca­de­mi­cally dri­ven preschool. Why? He’s just three…

I know, but I’ve also come to learn that every child is different.

BC is very dri­ven. VERY. He loves to learn, cra­ves know­ledge and is very, very ver­bal. His brain needs to be sti­mu­la­ted more than the ave­rage person’s. So for those rea­sons, we deci­ded to send him to our school of choice.

By nature, I’m not terribly high strung mom. Opi­nio­na­ted? Yes. But not overly con­tro­lling of my kids every move. My guess is though that many moms who send their child to this school are a bit overbearing.

So as we sat there in the inc­re­dibly hot room with 100+ parents, Hubby and I were gig­gling at the ques­tions being asked during the Q&A time at the end.

Over­bea­ring Mom #1: Can my child bring his own snack?

Prin­ci­pal: No… food aller­gies.… we pro­vide…bla bla bla…

ObM#1: But… no juice. Can he drink from the water foun­tain instead?

P: Yes, he is always allo­wed to drink from the water fountain.

ObM#2: Yes, my child is a full day stu­dent. Can he have ‘spe­cial milk’ before his nap. I’ll bring it from home!

P: (Ans­we­ring the wrong ques­tion) No he has to wear shoes at nap.

ObM#2: No that’s not my question.

She pro­ceeds to repeat her ori­gi­nal ‘spe­cial milk’ question.

P: I’m sorry, I don’t unders­tand. Could you repeat the question?

ObM#2: (Shou­ting at this point) CAN MY CHILD BRING HIS BOTTLE FOR NAP??

Silence.

Silence.

P: Uh, nope. Nothing from home.

Silence

Silence

Crowd begins to whis­per, “What’d the lady say?”

“She didn’t just ask…bottle?”

“Seriously? A bottle?!”

“OMG!”

Peo­ple sti­fle giggles.

Others are still tal­king. Mur­murs get louder.

When the mee­ting is finally over, Hubby is con­vin­ced that the lady is still nur­sing her 3 year old son.

I’m not sure, but Judg­men­tal Smi­ling Mom defi­ni­tely thinks that she needs to kick her son’s bad habit.

She’s sen­ding her boy to full day, 5 day preschool. Kick The Bottle Lady!!

To wean or not to wean?

That is the question!