I recently shopped at Walmart for school supplies for my 10th grader.  I went on the very last day of “Tax-Free Week” in my state, so I was concerned that the school supply aisles might be sparse.  When it comes to back-to-school shopping, the early birds get the worm and latecomers get the scraps.   

The shelves were filled to the brim and overflowing with school supplies.  

I should have known that there wouldn’t be the normal run on school supplies this year.  Nothing is normal about this year.  My daughter’s first day of school will be spent sitting at my dining room table all day.  

I am wondering if we will ever see “normal” again.  Or perhaps the book is closed on that chapter in history and we must now adjust our lives, dreams and expectations to the “new normal” everyone keeps talking about.

I don’t know.  But I do know that this is my daughter’s one and only sophomore year of high school and I need to do everything I can to make it wonderful.  We will have to stop focusing on the things that “could have been” or “should have been” and start making the most of life as it is today. 

If you care to join me, I will tell you what I plan to do to make that happen. 

#1 – I will buy bins and baskets to organize my daughter’s work space. 

When the pandemic closed schools last spring and my kids tumbled home from high school and college, my house was  completely unprepared for the onslaught of books, papers and other school paraphernalia that suddenly cluttered every available surface.   

This time I will be ready.  I am going to buy bins and baskets for all her textbooks, notebooks and other supplies so that her work space stays neat throughout the day and so that we can quickly move them out the way when necessary.  

#2 –  I will make sure my daughter is up every morning in time to get fully dressed and finish breakfast before school starts.  

When everything shut down in March 2020 and all of the wonderful opportunities and activities my daughter had worked hard to achieve vanished, I felt terrible for her.  To compensate I often allowed her to sleep until right before school started and sometimes I let her to log into her online classes from the comfort of her cozy bed.  

That won’t happen this year.  Although my daughter did extremely well in school last semester, this year we are going to normalize school at home.  I homeschooled my son decades ago when he was young and our morning routine always included waking up early, getting completely dressed and having a full breakfast before starting school.  I will be taking a page out of that book this year.  

 #3 – I will institute a 30-min exercise break for my daughter daily.

High schoolers normally get plenty of exercise by just rushing back and forth between their lockers and their various classes all day.  Many of them also play a rigorous sport after school.

When the pandemic closed schools, sitting all day, everyday in front of a computer screen became the norm and I was not intentional about making sure my daughter exercised regularly.  

This year I am turning over a new leaf.  I am going to insist that my daughter take an exercise break in the middle of everyday to activate her muscles and energize her brain.  She can take a walk around the neighborhood, ride her bike, walk on our treadmill or do anything else of her choosing.  The point is that being planted in a chair all day, everyday without moving won’t happen this year.  

#4 – I will  encourage and facilitate social connections between my daughter and other kids who live in the neighborhood.  

We live in a big suburban neighborhood but the kids in the neighborhood attend different schools and are normally very busy participating in many different activities.  Therefore, the kids don’t always interact with their neighbors.  That will change for my daughter this year.  In fact, it has already changed.   With many sports and other activities cancelled, she had extra time to cultivate friendships with kids who live nearby.  I suspect other kids had extra time as well.  I plan to connect with moms in the neighborhood to make sure that our kids continue to have the opportunity to socialize safely during the school year.  School at home can be very isolating and I must be intentional about combating that.  

#5 – I will plan a healthy and nutritious lunch for my daughter everyday.  

In spring 2020, the global pandemic had me vacillating between shock, panic and dogged determination to find toilet paper.  What my daughter was having for lunch was the last thing on my mind.  After all, she was in 9th grade and she knew her way around the kitchen enough to figure out what to eat. 

That was true. But it was not the best plan.  My daughter ate her lunch in the school cafeteria before school was shut down.  The cafeteria provided portion-controlled, healthy meals and a salad bar for the students everyday.  

At home, lunchtime was a free-for-all that lasted into the afternoon.  No wonder the Quarantine-15 took up residence in my house.  This year I am going to plan a weekly lunch menu for my daughter made up of healthy, lower calorie meals and salads.

This back-to-school season, like everything else in our lives, has been turned upside down by the pandemic.  But parents still have a some control over how our children will experience this school year.  We must ensure that they are able to rise above these circumstances and thrive.