With school just around the corner, the excitement is palpable! For many kids, it’s a whirlwind of joy, but for others, it might bring a touch of uncertainty. And let’s not forget us parents, who are often caught in a mix of pride and nostalgia, wondering how our kids have grown so fast. Ready or not, here comes another school year, and I've gathered some top tips from seasoned parents and teachers to help you gear up!

Time Management Magic

Morning Routines

Mornings can be hectic, but practicing routines ahead of time can make the transition smoother. A week or two before school starts, get your kids into the habit of picking out their clothes, brushing their teeth, and packing their school bags the night before.

Consider quick, but nourishing options for breakfast so you can grab and go if needed.

Breakfast is so important for our children’s little bodies. When we eat food, our body breaks it down into sugar (and other things) that we can use for energy. Our body needs energy for it to work properly, especially our brain! Helping our kids have an opportunity to eat breakfast sets their bodies and brains up to have energy as they start their day. They will also have better concentration, memory, and cognitive performance. Research has linked skipping breakfast to poorer memory and overall academic performance.

Pro Tip: Prep lunches and breakfasts the night before or even at the start of the week. It’s a great time-saver and ensures your kids start their day nourished and ready to learn. A good breakfast boosts concentration, memory, and cognitive performance!

Lunch Period Prep

Lunchtime can be a rush for kids, especially in kindergarten and elementary school where lunch periods can be as short as 15 minutes. Find out how long your child’s lunch break is and practice eating within that time frame.

School Day Tasks and Routines

Mastering Supplies and Gadgets

The first day of school can be stressful, but knowing how to use all their supplies can boost your child’s confidence. Practice opening and using supplies at home ahead of time.

If your child is going to be using lunch boxes, containers, water bottles, snack packages, etc, show them how to open them. Practice opening and closing them at home and all the containers/packages inside their lunch box.

Of course, the teachers can help, however, consider the student-to-teacher ratio and the “time” factor mentioned above. Knowing they can open things independently can reduce a lot of their (and your) worries or fears and optimize the time they have eating.

If you’re looking for some easy-to-open, durable lunch boxes and containers, here is a list to consider!

Classroom Readiness

Teachers appreciate when kids have a bit of autonomy. Foster responsibility at home by having your kids empty their backpacks, fill water bottles and even tie their shoes. Also, discuss classroom manners like raising hands and being kind to others.

Time Efficiency Hacks

Pre-sharpened pencils and easy-to-wear shoes can make a big difference in your child’s day. Velcro or slip-on shoes are lifesavers for younger kids who aren’t shoe-tying pros yet.

Tip: If you need help, check out this list of easy-to-open and easy-to-use lunch containers and accessories for your child’s lunch box!

Weeknight Hacks for Busy Parents

Alright parents, I know we are ALL doing our best to keep up with all the demands of life, let alone the back-to-school hustle. Let’s consider some things to help take the stress off, maximize our time, and make things a little bit easier on ourselves!

Meal and Snack Prep

Having a plan for meals is a great starting place. Maybe that's just a general idea of what dinners, lunches, breakfasts, and snacks are going to be. You could take it a step further and plan out dinners, pick recipes for the week, and prep up some of your and your kids’ meals. Meal prep doesn’t have to mean prepping every single meal or spending hours in the kitchen. You can:

Prep Ingredients: For example, cut up some veggies to have ready to throw into your dinner recipe in the next couple of days. Having things cut up already can significantly reduce stove-to-table time on those busy weeknights!

You could even take it a step further and prep the individual ingredients to have ready in the fridge and mix and match meals throughout the week. Some of my favorites are chicken breasts, ground beef, some roasted veggies, and washed and cut fruit! I’ll mix and match combos and spice it up with different sauces so it doesn’t get boring!
From one of the mamas in the Bite Sized Wellness Community, “One of my favorite easy things, when I have no idea what to cook, is plain frozen chicken (random seasonings if I want) covered with water cooked on low in the crockpot while I’m at work all day. When I come home I can do anything with it! Stir fry, pasta with chicken, chicken wraps, sometimes just chicken with dips!”
Meal Prep: Meal prepping works well for a lot of people and reduces so much time because your meals are already cooked and just need to be reheated. The cool thing is you can pick and choose how many meals you are prepping. Maybe you decide to prep all of the family breakfast and lunches for the week but will plan to cook dinner. Or, maybe you decide to prep up just lunches and will cook breakfast and dinners throughout the week. There is no “perfect” approach to meal prep. Whatever seems most appropriate for the flow of your family.
Batch Cook/Freeze: Cook once eat twice! This is by far one of my favorite methods. Batch cooking is simply cooking multiple batches of the same recipe to freeze for later. This SAVES ME SO MUCH TIME throughout the week. You can intentionally plan to do this at the start of the week as you are meal-prepping. My favorite is when I am cooking dinner or breakfast and I already have all the ingredients out, I will just double everything and freeze the extras. I do this at least once a week and it helps me slowly build a freezer stash for those “oh crap” weeknight dinners when I forgot to thaw the chicken for dinner, or the evening is just in mass chaos.

Looking for more in-depth guidance on meal planning and prepping, ideas for what to prep, storing food and how long it stays fresh, and more, download our meal prep guide here! Join our Facebook Community for a discount code to get it FREE!

Easy Lunch Ideas

Here are some ideas for those school lunches when you feel you are in a rut and you feel you’ve overdone the sandwich lunch.

Crackers, lunch meat, cheese, and fruit/veggies
Build-your-own pizza with mini naan, sauce, cheese, and turkey pepperoni
Quesadillas
leftover dinners
grilled cheese with carrots and pears
chickpea pasta with ground turkey or chicken
mini meatballs (I like to make these in bulk and keep them in the freezer. Pull out the night before and store them in the fridge and they are ready to go by lunchtime.
mac and cheese with edamame and berries
classic PB+J

After School Snacks

After school and work, the evening chaos starts. Sometimes it is hard for our kids to hold off until dinner is ready and they need a little something to help hold them over.
When picking a snack, try to pair at least two food groups if you can. Bonus if you can get three! (Protein, fat, fruit/veggie, and/or carbohydrates)

Here are some ideas

Smoothies: I like to prep these ahead of time, put them in individual freezer bags, and toss them in the freezer. Take them out in the morning and set them in the fridge and they’ll be ready to go after school!
Popcorn trail mix: We love homemade trail mix because it's the perfect way to use up half-eaten snack bags on the shelf. There are no rules, and it can look different every time you throw it together. For instance, you might combine various raw nuts and seeds, raisins, crackers, cereal, dried apricots or mangos, dark chocolate, pretzels, and popcorn. Omit popcorn and raw nuts for younger kiddos under 4 due to potential choking hazards.
Yogurt or snack pouches with fruit/veggies
Cheese sticks with deli meat and crackers
Snack bars like Rx Bars or That’s It Bars
Dehydrated veggie snacks with meat sticks
Cottage cheese with veggie sticks

If you’re looking for more lunch ideas, download our Bite Sized Recipe Bundle Ebook. It has 50 Kid-Friendly recipes for breakfast, lunch, snack, and even dinner! It also includes modifications for babies and toddlers, serving tips, education, and more so you can make just one meal the whole family can enjoy!

Conclusion

With these tips, you’re all set to tackle the school year with confidence and ease. Here’s to a fantastic, organized, and fun-filled school year for you and your kiddos! 🚌✨

If you are looking for more 1-on-1 guidance and support for implementing strategies to fit your specific child and family’s needs, click here to book a consultation with us. Whether you are looking to overcome barriers of mealtime struggles, help set your little one up to eat while away from the home, or looking to get to the root of your child’s health issues using a lifestyle approach, we’ve got you!

Learn More here!

Medical/General: The content, information, opinions, and suggestions listed here have been created with typically developing children and babies in mind. The information here is generalized for a broad audience. The information here should by no means be used as a substitute for medical advice or for any circumstance be used in place of emergency services. Your child is an individual and may have needs or considerations beyond generally accepted practices. If your child has underlying medical or developmental differences, including but not limited to prematurity, developmental delay, sensory processing differences, gastrointestinal differences, cardiopulmonary disease processes, or neurological differences, we strongly recommend you discuss your child's feeding plan with the child's doctor, health care provider or therapy team. By accessing this site and the information in it, you acknowledge and agree that you are accepting responsibility for your child’s health and well-being. By using and accepting the information on this site, the author (Cierra Crowley) is not responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use of any suggestions discussed. It is important to talk to your child’s pediatrician or medical provider to start anything new or make any changes.
Affiliation: this page contains affiliate links from which I can earn small commissions (at no additional cost to you).

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