Some of the most successful people I know organise stuff the night before to make sure the next day sails smoothly. It also makes for a great nights sleep too as you don’t have to think about anything you’ve forgotten! Theres lots of simple, yet practical things you can do. Here’s just a few school related ones.

Unpack school bags daily           

Try to unpack school bags right after school so that things that need washing get washed and any homework that has been given gets some attention. Encourage your daughter to do this and it will just become a habit. 

Use the school diary

The often under utilised school diary is great for planning and spacing out homework tasks. Working with your daughter from a young age to help her to organise a diary stops it from becoming too overwhelming when the homework tasks increase. If allowed you can purchase your own diary to encourage it’s use or personalise a school one. You can place a timetable in there (I love colour coding these too) and also draw up a homework timetable with your daughter so that she can balance school expectations, her own activities and self care. Leave lots of room for flexibility, as I’ve found out over the Years that flexibility is also important.

Plan the night before

Organising lunch, bags and clothes the night before makes for an easy morning transition. I am not so great at getting up early, so this really helps make my life easier! As does colour coding folders so they’re easy to grab without too much thought or even having to read and they look pretty too. Have everything located in the same spot, so it’s easy to grab on your way out in the morning and no one is running around trying to find things and shouting “mum where are my runners”.

Start the day right

Set an alarm to wake up at the same time every day (well every working day) and make sure there’s enough time for breakfast and something nice to start your day with such as daily gratitude, a moment to reflect, chat over breakfast or even a short meditation or stretch series. Both my daughter and I find that if we’re not rushing in the morning we are much calmer throughout the day and it really sets the tone for the day ahead. If you’d like more tips like this. Follow us on our Facebook page.