Endless to-do lists for back to school

The holidays have come and gone… Even the beach sand that so stubbornly stuck to my kids’ bottoms has finally been washed away.  Tan lines are disappearing and that tedious New Year’s resolution list has been forgotten already.  One thing that never fails to come around though is ‘back to school’.

Don’t get me wrong.  I like routine, I thrive on it.  I thoroughly enjoyed the holidays and not having to shower everyone by 7am, not having to force the oats down their throats (they can eat those dreadful sugar-coated cereals during the holidays) and giving them endless chores to do every day. (can you hear that evil laugh?)

Jan – you – worry (January) : the month of back to school drama!

• The dreaded stationery list

The thing is that it just seems like such a mountain of to-do lists that I need to get through just to get started with January.  And that’s only dealing with the kids and their school stuff.  Each year, their school shoes and socks look as though something tried to grow out of them (right, that’s the kids growing out of them).  They suddenly grow longer arms and legs in one month and all this means dragging them to buy new uniforms.  Then there’s those darn stationery lists!  Why exactly am I buying 12 sticks of glue?  Do they eat them and is that why they’re growing so fast?  And that’s just for one kid and I have 3.  So it’s walking around with 3 lists trying to find the most reasonably priced brands but ones that aren’t made to last a day.

• The nail biting labeling

Each individual pencil, sharpener, eraser and all those impossibly small things that my impatient hands can’t handle.  And ‘the help’ usually can’t understand why I like to have all the labels on the pencils facing the same way and on the same spot.

• Finally back to routine?

Anyway, once all the admin is done with, there’s the task of convincing my middle son that all good things come to an end. That grade 2 will be much more exciting than grade 1 and that if he promises not to lose his brand new lunch box within the first week, I’ll take him on a beach holiday in December (there’s that evil laugh again).  And once school starts, it’s like a well-oiled machine with daily lunch-making, extra mural timetables, homework and early nights to bed.

Good luck to all the mums and dads especially those with first time school-goers.

If you need last minute help preparing for school, whether it’s hair cuts, transport services, labels or more. Check out this list:

Preparation for school

• kids hair salons
• transport services
• schools
• homework help/aftercare
• extra lessons
• au pairs/nannies
• babysitting
• domestic workers
• extra murals

This article was originally written for Jozikids by Fatima Kazee in 2015.

Note: If you enjoyed this article, and would like to stay updated with more, you can:

• Subscribe to our free weekly Jozikids newsletter  for parents in Gauteng
• Like us on Facebook
• Follow us on Instagram