​​The Back-to-School Roadmap for Busy Moms [Episode 33]

Welcome to the Holiday Head Start Podcast, where we get intentional about kicking overwhelm to the curb and bringing the joy back to your holidays and every day. I’m Heidi. And I’m Emily. We’re two sisters and former elementary school teachers who’ve taken the simple strategies and practical tips we mastered in the classroom and put them to work in our personal lives.

And we are here to help you do the same. Join us each week as we share how with a little planning and a little prep, you can ensure that the days that make life special don’t become the days that make you stressed. You can check out the show [email protected]. Ready to get a headstart on your holidays.

Let’s go.

Emily: Hey there, friends. Welcome back to the Holiday Headstart podcast. Today we’re talking about how to make it through back to school season [00:01:00] with your sanity intact and sharing a get ahead tip for checking in with your new teachers.

Heidi: First, we have a tradition spotlight traditions are an important tool in building a healthy, happy, connected life. This week we have a tradition from Emily about one of her back to school traditions. Tell us about this, Emily.

Emily: Well, we like to do a special dinner the night before school starts, or sometimes it’s the weekend before, but we try to do it the night before and that is our back to school backwards dinner. So I would love to be the kind of family that has like some really special pot roast meal or something for back to school.

Like a, like just a. Beautiful sit down dinner that you look forward to. That is not my lot in life because I have children who don’t like anything. So instead I make it special by having it backwards. So we actually eat, I make it school lunch themed, which it’s probably more school lunch themed in the way that school lunch was when we were kids, compared to what it’s like now.

But what we do is we have. [00:02:00] Chicken nuggets. We have apple slices, we have chocolate milk cartons. I always say I’m gonna be on it and make those lunch lady peanut butter

Heidi: Oh yes.

Emily: never happens. So what we have instead are the little ice cream cups that have the wooden spoons in the top, which again, that’s something from when we were kids.

My kids have no experience with that, but it’s nostalgic for me. But the, what makes it so fun is that we eat it in reverse. So the novelty of eating dessert first. It never gets old. My kids. But they’re older now and my, my youngest is nine and she still just gets such a kick out of it. So we eat it backwards, start with dessert and work our way to the beginning.

So it’s so easy to do. This is one reason I guess I’m glad that they don’t want a big, fancy special meal, is that this is so easy to pull together and I could pick up the groceries in advance and be ready to pull this dinner together without too much stress. And then I just try to put out some cute back to school table decorations.

And Heidi has some metal.[00:03:00]

Heidi: Like lunch trays. Yeah.

Emily: Yeah. With the sections like we would’ve carried as kids . And so we eat off of those and it’s just easy. But what matters most with the tradition is that you do it over and over again, and then it’s special.

That’s the key.

Heidi: And I think one nice thing about doing kid friendly food is that they’re so amped up right then They’re not really in a space to be able to enjoy something, you know, out of the norm. And so. Taking something normal like chicken nuggets for dinner. But just putting a little spin on it elevates the whole thing without adding to the energy in the house.

It’s a fun level of calm. A calm level of fun. One of those things. But that’s how we roll. Fun. Calm, calm,

Emily: Yeah. And I have tried doing like special breakfasts on the morning of back to school and they have gone over kind of like a lead balloon. Not that they’re not grateful, but I’ve found they’re too excited to be that hungry in the morning. So I’ve put a lot of effort into it and they. You know what I mean?

So I, I think that’s a good point to remember that, you know, if [00:04:00] there’s gonna be a lot of nerves familiar, comfort food is probably a good idea.

Heidi: And just put a cute spin on like get the cute little bowls or something, you know?

Emily: Mm-hmm.

Heidi: Yeah. Way to go. It’s a very fun night and we would love to hear about your favorite back to school traditions. Come join us on Instagram at the holiday. Hit start.

Emily: So some years back to school season feels like opening night for a play that you forgot you were in. You’re scrambling for costumes, unsure if anyone knows their lines, and the curtain is rising now. But what if this year we were able to get ready in advance? We might not win any Tony Awards, but we can rehearse enough to feel ready and maybe even enjoy the show.

Heidi: So back to school is not a single day, it is a season. It’s shorter than the holiday season, but it comes with its own rhythms. Its own demands, and a thousand tiny decisions.

Emily: And unfortunately we can’t hit pause on regular life to deal with everything that comes with the back to school season. We still have to work and do [00:05:00] dishes and deal with toddlers and laundry. So let’s talk about how to manage the start of the year in the midst of your real, imperfect, busy, wonderful life.

Heidi: When we plan Christmas celebrations, there are 10 steps to figure out the why, what and how of what we want to have happen. So we are going to look at our 10 steps for Christmas planning through the lens of back to school.

Emily: And don’t worry, this is a very, very scaled down version of holiday planning. We are not trying to create some ideal version of your back to school plan. Life is too messy for that, but what we can do is approach this season with a little more clarity and a lot less chaos.

Heidi: So let’s look at step one and figure out your purpose. Before you write a single list or buy a single backpack, ask yourself, how do I want this season to feel? Maybe that’s calm, connected, confident, maybe energized or focused.

Emily: If you’re feeling the pressure to check things off your list, making time for this step can feel like [00:06:00] more of an interruption than a support, but we promise this is the compass that helps everything else make sense. Without a clear direction, you end up reacting to what everyone else is doing

instead of acting on what really matters to you.

Heidi: So let’s say your kids need new school clothes. If you are prioritizing easy, you could order some things from one online store and let it just all arrive on your doorstep. If you’re prioritizing connection, you could schedule a day to take each child on their own shopping trip for some before school, one-on-one time.

Emily: Since both options result in your child getting the necessary clothes, they’re both valid choices. But if you try to do the version of clothes shopping that doesn’t support your vision, you’ll just end up frustrated. And I just wanna say, I’m actually doing a hybrid of this this year, which I’ve never done before.

Usually I just take the kids out on a shopping day and it can be stressful because. We’re hunting to find clothes and it’s busy and picked over. Instead I am putting in an order from Old Navy of new clothes for everyone that they can pick from. I’ll return anything they [00:07:00] don’t want, but I’m taking everyone out on a one-on-one date to pick out one special outfit and get a treat.

So it feels like a good in between. And then we always pick up any school supplies they need for class. That’s always their favorite part, you know, picking out the folders and glue sticks.

Heidi: Well, yeah, I love that. That’s a very clear vision. You know what works for you and you’re not having to sacrifice connection for the sake of easiness, but you’re not sacrificing easiness for the sake of connection. That’s a beautiful hybrid. 10 gold stars, Emily.

Emily: Thank you. Yeah, because the thing is, I really don’t enjoy the shopping part of this experience, so it limits how much of that I actually have to do, but I can still have the one-on-one time with them and make them feel special. I think it will be a good hybrid this year.

Heidi: Everyone can come home from that smiling instead of just, the kid who got a bunch of stuff.

Over on our Teacher approved podcast, we have been working with teachers all summer to use their goal feeling at what we call an emotional readiness anchor to guide their plans, and this works [00:08:00] equally well for parents as it does for teachers.

Emily: So you think of a word of how you want to feel at back to school time, and then you use that anchor word as your north star to guide every decision you need to make.

See a cute idea for a back to school breakfast on Instagram if your readiness anchor is to feel energized. Planning a special breakfast could be just the thing to kick off the first day. But if your goal is to feel balanced, getting up early to fix a big breakfast, could throw all of your plans out of whack, but only you can decide that.

So choose your word now and let it be the lens through which you view every decision that comes your way.

Heidi: You may want to. Extend this to the rest of the people that are affected by back to school. How are your kids feeling about the year ahead? How do they want to feel? Sometimes a back to school season needs more hugs than highlighters, so make sure to check in with everyone to see how they are feeling about this upcoming transition.

Emily: Once you have your emotional North Star, let’s look at the practical side. Your budget [00:09:00] back to school costs can sneak up on you between supplies, clothes, sports fees, water bottles,

Heidi: No.

Emily: backpacks, activity registrations, tech upgrades, and lunch accounts. It can all add up fast.

Heidi: One way you can save a little money is by taking a minute to look at what you already have. Our last year. Scissors still cutting. Will that backpack survive another semester? Use what still works and save a few dollars.

Emily: Yeah, go through your clothes and see what still fits your kids before you go shopping so you know how many new pairs of pants or shoes that they need. And if money is tight this year, and for many families, we know that it is prioritizing needs over wants. It’s not a failure, it’s just being wise.

Heidi: It can be a great time to involve your kids in small budgeting decisions too. We can get the sparkle notebook or the pencil case, but not both. So what matters more to you?

Emily: With your shopping list figured out, let’s turn to our third step, which is to make it special. Just like we have traditions for the holidays back to school can be a time for small [00:10:00] rituals that mark the transition.

Heidi: Maybe you do a back to school breakfast. Maybe it’s a simple family movie night, the weekend before school starts, or a new book at bedtime the night before. Maybe you walk to school on the first day, even if you usually drive these tiny moments. Anchor kids.

Emily: And they anchor us too. One thing that we’ve started doing in recent years that is a runaway hit with my kids is called Back to School cones. So I think this started as a German tradition, and now it’s something that our mom does for the grandkids. So on the first day of school, each child gets a cone full of.

School surprises and treats and little surprises. But this isn’t like an ice cream cone. This is a giant cone made from a poster board, and then it’s wrapped in tissue paper. It’s almost as big as my kids. And we’ll put a link in the show notes to an how to article if you want to see how you can make this idea your own.

Heidi: If your capacity is low this year, your back to school tradition can be as simple as a, you’ve got [00:11:00] this sticky note in the lunchbox or a selfie before you leave the house. Traditions aren’t about meeting anyone else’s goals. They’re about connecting with the people who matter most, and really you can do that in countless ways.

Emily: Yeah, I’ve seen someone who does cookies, just, she makes homemade cookies for the first day of school when they get home. They have cookie chat,

Heidi: Oh, that’s.

Emily: they eat cookies and like, it doesn’t have to be hard but special when you say that it’s special. That’s the beauty. That’s the beauty of traditions. So now that you have an idea of what needs to happen, let’s get into the nitty gritty and look at the calendar.

Open up that calendar app. Or if you’re a paper planner person, now’s your moment. Add every date. You know, your first day of school, open house, back to school night, registration, deadlines, sports tryouts that back to school, fundraiser, supply drop offs, all of the stuff that you know.

Heidi: Then try to think through all of the extras. Do you need to book haircuts, doctor’s appointments? Does anyone need shots? One last pool day? If [00:12:00] it’s not on the calendar, it likely won’t happen. So whatever it is. I saying this with all of the big sister energy I have, whatever it is, schedule it now. Even adding something like buy lunch applies to your calendar can free up so much mental space.

Emily: Yes, and I’m so proud of myself ’cause I got everything scheduled that needed to be scheduled except one child did need a doctor’s appointment and some shots. And I went to schedule it and discovered that I was just barely outside of the window of the maximum amount of time I can go between appointments and.

We’re no longer that doctor’s patient just for that one child, and they’re no longer accepting patients. So I did drop the

Heidi: the heck?

Emily: Apparently I should have done that one a little earlier.

Heidi: the children can still see this doctor, but not that one

Emily: I don’t know. I need to call and see online. They will not let me schedule

Heidi: my word.

Emily: she’s no longer accepting patients.

So I’m gonna have to call.

Heidi: Ridiculous.

Emily: I know. So, but add these [00:13:00] things to your calendar and if you already know when picture day or school dress-up days or other events are scheduled, add reminders to yourself to figure out the details a couple weeks in advance. If kids aren’t invited to your schools back to school night, you could book your childcare for that.

Now, get ahead of those extra tasks. That throw your regular life for a loop.

Heidi: Your school might also require a bunch of paperwork. Plan some time to get all of those forms filled out and then send in any fees or lunch money while you’re at it.

Emily: Once all the scheduling is handled, it’s time to focus on food. So with school, that means figuring out breakfasts and lunches. This is often where stress sneaks in daily and small changes here can make a big difference.

Heidi: Consider the sorts of things your kids will eat and see if you can find a way to make them more easily available for meals. So, for example, if pancakes are a favorite, can you prep a triple batch one day and then just freeze ’em all? That’ll give you easy breakfast for a few weeks at least.

Emily: Packing lunches is another routine that might need a [00:14:00] refresh. If mornings are hectic, try doing those the night before or put your kids in charge. Turn one of your fridge drawers into the lunch door and fill it with stuff your kids can fill their own lunch bags with. You know, obviously some guidelines, maybe you know, one of each, one from each bin or whatever you need to do to make it easy.

Heidi: And speaking of lunch bags, make sure to add new ones to your shopping list if you need them.

Emily: And you might also need to add school clothes to your shopping list, like we said.

And that’s step number six, deal with clothing and photos.

Heidi: If your children wear uniforms at school, that makes this step a whole lot easier. But if your kids need new school clothes or shoes, make sure to factor that into your budget and into your schedule.

Emily: The tricky thing about new school close is that they’re often geared towards colder months, but school starts when it’s still a hundred degrees. I remember in eighth grade the year that I was wearing corduroy overalls because they were so in style and I loved them so much with like a long sleeve ribbed shirt underneath [00:15:00] and I was so hot.

Heidi: But you looked cute, and that’s what counted.

Emily: did with the red cheeks and all. It looks so cute.. But if you also have enough warm weather clothes to get you through the next couple of months, you could start the year with just one new outfit and then get new clothes when things get colder.

Heidi: And then once you’ve figured out your new clothes, you are ready for the classic first day of school photo. If you wanna make this as stress free as possible, go ahead and cheat a little and take this photo a day or two in advance. It takes a lot of the pressure off and it can make the whole event a lot more pleasant.

Plus, you can do do it when the light is good instead of first thing in the morning when it might not be very bright at all.

Emily: This is something I say I am always gonna do, and I do not do it, and I cannot stress this enough. But if you want to do that first morning photo and you wanna have them holding up a sign or a letter board, you wanna print out those signs in advance and change out your letter [00:16:00] board in advance. You don’t wanna be scrambling to find your container of letters for your letter board when everyone’s trying to get ready and.

I recently learned my lesson because I thought I knew where it was and it wasn’t there. And so when I was taking the last day of school photos, I had the letter board, but we had to change first to last. so I was missing LA and T Well, no, just l and a. It was just l and a. But I couldn’t find that container anywhere.

And so it ended up being a month into summer before we took our last day of school photos.

Heidi: I appreciate that you took them anyway.

Emily: Oh, I took them anyway. I was like, I don’t care. I’m taking them anyway. But just learn from my mistakes and I do try to, whenever I change it, for either last or first to immediately change it for whatever’s next.

So immediately changed it to back to first and changed the years. So it is ready to go from back to school at least, but I had to buy more letter board letters. That’s why it took a month. No, I [00:17:00] don’t, I have a container for it. I have a certain place, I always put it, it must have got, I mean, slipped in just somewhere else, so it could be in the wrong holidays bin or something.

I mean, it’s, I, I’m sure I’ll come across it, but I had to buy more and then the ones I bought were not the right size. Then I had to buy another one. I mean, it was such an ordeal. So. I guess I’m glad I made that mistake with the last day of school photos than the

Heidi: Way

Emily: I care more about those.

Yes. But anyway, be better than me. Learn from my mistakes. Get your science ready now.

Heidi: And buy extra letters apparently.

Emily: Yes, yes, I know from now on I’m just gonna keep like a bag that just has first and last and the numbers like that I can just tape to the back. So if we don’t know where the rest of, ’cause we really only use that particular letter board for this purpose.

So you can just

Heidi: Brilliant, brilliant.

Emily: solving.

Heidi: Another fun tradition you might wanna try is a back to school fashion show. A friend of mine does this every year with her kids [00:18:00] and her nieces and nephews. The kids all come over to model their new outfits and you know, the family all claps in tears. It’s a fun way to build some excitement around starting the school year.

Emily: And I’ve done this a couple times, but my kids I think are just starting to age out of it. ’cause last year nobody wanted to do it. So we did not do it. Step seven in our Christmas prep is to make plans for your holiday decorations. So for now, for back to school, we’re going to skip putting up the tree and instead focus on preparing your house in general for school starting.

Heidi: Go ahead and think through your physical spaces. Where will backpacks go? Where do lunchboxes live after school? Do you have a system for all of the incoming papers, or is your kitchen counter the current drop zone?

Emily: Try creating a school station or a launchpad even if it’s just a basket by the door to make your daily transitions a little smoother.

Heidi: If the routine you had last year worked, do what you can to recreate that routine this year. But if things weren’t [00:19:00] working smoothly, take a minute to troubleshoot that now and save yourself the hassle of 180 days of meltdowns.

Emily: And while you’re figuring all that out, let’s look at step eight and figure out logistics. How are kids going to and from school each day? Do you need to find out the bus details or coordinate a carpool? What needs to happen with your childcare now that school is starting?

Heidi: Now is also a great time to log into the school portal and set up emergency contacts and double check any apps or communication systems that your school uses. Future. You will be so grateful to have all of this figured out already.

Emily: Okay, so now you have a clear picture of what you want to have happen and a good understanding of everything that needs to happen. So let’s do step nine and figure out a game plan for putting it all in motion.

Heidi: A good place to start is with getting the bedtime routine on track. I know, I know it’s nobody’s favorite, but if kids aren’t getting enough sleep, mornings are gonna be even harder, and then everything else, the whole day is gonna be more [00:20:00] difficult.

Emily: I know our bedtime has just gotten later and later and later, all summer long. So I realized last night like, oh, it’s the week. I gotta start

Heidi: Oh no.

Emily: ready.

Heidi: It’s so rough.

Emily: It really is. You also wanna consider what you can do the night before to make the next morning easier.

So choose the next day’s closed, set up shoes by the door, pack up the backpack so there’s less running around in the morning.

Heidi: I saw a comment online from a mom who has her kids sleep in their school clothes for the next day. It’s unconventional, but I say, Hey, if it keeps your mornings from turning into a battle, go for it.

Emily: You gotta problem solve. Whatever way works for you. Wrapping up the day by prepping for the next day can be tricky to manage because everyone’s tired by that point. Maybe try having a set time each night for morning prep. If your kids aren’t too cranky, maybe you do it after dinner every day, like to set a timer for 10 minutes and then everyone does their prep tasks at the same time.

You might also find there’s less [00:21:00] pushback if everyone is doing it together.

Heidi: Consider how to add some connection points to your routine. If you want to make sure that you’re checking in with your child each day, schedule a time for it. Maybe set an alarm on your phone until it becomes routine. This can ensure that you’re really touching base instead of just checking off a list of tasks.

Emily: Those of us who plan ahead often fall into the trap of thinking that there’s some perfect routine out there that will make our lives flow effortlessly. We just need to find it, but I promise you there is not. So release the idea of perfection and figure out what’s actually manageable for your circumstances and accept the fact that they’re gonna change all the time.

So what works great is gonna stop working great. That’s just the way it goes.

Heidi: All right. Our final step. Is to take a look at your list and make a plan for getting it all done. Great. No big deal.

Emily: You do not have to do all of these tasks at once. In fact, you’ll probably need to decide several blocks of time to knock all of this out. Try [00:22:00] grouping your tasks into categories like purchases, appointments, paperwork.

Then block out time to tackle them in chunks. You’ll be amazed how much calmer it feels when everything has a home.

Heidi: If you schedule a monthly holiday, maybe set aside your time in August for dealing with your back to school prep. You can also get a friend involved if she has things to prep too. Tedious tasks, like sorting out paperwork are much more fun if you’ve got someone to hang out with.

Emily: There’s one last list you might want to make. This is your to don’t list. Take a minute right now and make a list of everything you’re saying no to. No themed lunches. No new backpacks, no fancy chalkboard signs. No problem. Decide now what’s off your list so you can release it with no guilt.

Heidi: If school is starting next week and you don’t have a whole month to prep first, take a deep breath, then dial into the tasks that had the biggest impact on the first day. You might not have time to revamp your family’s whole bedtime routine before [00:23:00] school starts, but you can make sure that the supplies are bought, everyone has something to wear, and you know what’s happening with breakfast and lunch.

You can figure out the rest as you go.

Emily: Right, and it’s tempting to feel like if you don’t have everything set up on day one, that the whole year is. Is off now.

Heidi: Yes.

Emily: But that is just simply not true. Like you can start a new routine at any time. You can start it in two weeks if that’s when you have time. So just don’t let the perfect, become the enemy of the good.

So whether school starts next month or tomorrow, give yourself a moment to breathe. You can’t do it all. So make sure that what you can do matters. Start with your purpose, build from there, and you’ve got time. You’ve totally got this.

Heidi: We would love to hear all of your tips for prepping for back to school. So come connect with us on Instagram at the holiday Head Start.

Emily: Now it’s time for a get a Head Start tip. Each week we leave you with a small actionable tip to help you get started on your holiday planning. This week’s get a Head Start tip is find out what the teachers like. So tell us more about it, [00:24:00] Heidi.

Heidi: Well, if you are someone who likes to give teachers gifts for Christmas, teacher Appreciation Week, or just an occasional thanks for putting up with my kid gift. Figure that out now. So once you have your new teacher’s contact information, you can send them a nice to meet you email and ask them to share some of their favorites with you.

This will be easier if you provide them with some questions like, what’s your favorite snack? What’s your favorite place to get coffee? What are some restaurants you enjoy visiting? And okay, as the teacher, I promise you that no teacher is expecting gifts, but if you are generous enough to send a gift, why not make it something that the teacher will actually enjoy and not another Apple mug.

Emily: Please, please, no more mugs. Even a $5 gift card would be so much more appreciated than a mug that they will never use because they have a million.

Heidi: You could probably have a different mug a day as a teacher and

Emily: Huh. If you want to really make this organized, you could set up a Google forum that you send out to multiple teachers and just reuse it each year.[00:25:00]

Heidi: I have not done this from the parent side, obviously, but I have experienced it from the teacher side, and the gifts really are secondary to how supported I felt because someone cared enough to find out what mattered to me. So if you have got the bandwidth, it really is a little touch. That can mean a lot at the start of the year.

Emily: And if you’re really on top of it, once you know their favorites, you can snag a gift card to their favorite store or restaurant. And you’ve got that Christmas gift managed already. So 15 minutes writing an email will pay off all year long.

Heidi: As a way to keep ourselves accountable and give you some ideas of what you can do in advance for your own celebrations. We are sharing what’s on our to-do list. Emily, what are you working on this week?

Emily: I’m all into the back to school prep. I am gonna go make sure I have the letters for that letter board.

Heidi: Oh, yes, yes. Because I could totally see it being like, yeah, I already solved this problem. It’s totally fine. Going to grab it in the morning and being like, oh no, something has fallen off, or, yeah. Yep.

Emily: [00:26:00] Yeah, I’m gonna make sure we’re good there.

Heidi: Very smart.

Emily: What are you prepping this week?

Heidi: I am preparing for a neighborhood choc the walk. So there’s the bus stop for my neighborhood is just a few houses up for me.

So we’re gonna do a neighborhood like come over, let kids decorate the bus stop with sidewalk chalk and I bought some of those pencil packs from Michael’s where it’s like a pretty pencil with a fun eraser on it. Turn and get some new pencil.

Maybe I can borrow your fancy pencil sharpener, Emily. And they can even sharpen their pencil.

Emily: can.

Also, if you want to, I don’t know if you wanna get into this, but painting with chalk is really fun. Where you grind up the chalk, the kids love this and then just add a little water and then they can paint with the paintbrush, which looks like paint on the

Heidi: Oh, that’s

Emily: And I have several different mesh screens for

Heidi: Oh, is that how they do

Emily: through a little phase of making chalk paint all the

Heidi: Yeah. Well that’s, let’s give that a try. ’cause I’ve been worried this is gonna be too like

Emily: I think that would fill the time more.

Heidi: Very smart. Okay, well let’s do that. Oh, I need paintbrushes. I better put that on my list now.

Emily: Yes.

Heidi: Are they just [00:27:00] like the sponge paintbrushes?

Emily: I think I usually do like a thicker paintbrush, like a brushy brush, but you probably could use the foam ones.

I’m sure Eloise would like to come

Heidi: Yes. She’s already told me ’cause she was with me, I was getting pencils up Michael’s and she had a lot of follow-up questions.

Emily: I’m sure she did. So she’ll be there to teach everyone how to make chalk paint. She’s a, she’s an ex chalk paint extraordinaire now.

To wrap up the show, we’re sharing our nice list. Heidi, what’s on your nice list this week?

Heidi: I’m putting air conditioning on my nice list. I just love it. I wanna hug it. It’s, it might be my favorite thing in the world.

Emily: Yeah, it’s cost me a lot of money this year, and the repairing of it has cost me a lot this year, but you know what it’s

Heidi: It is worth it every minute of the day. Okay. Emily, what’s on your nice list?

Emily: I’ve got these retractable charging cords. So I’ve had one in my van that retracts, which is nice. But these are ones that you can plug into any like USB charging block. [00:28:00] And what I like about it is on the end it has all, it’s like a circle on the end that has sticking out of it, the three different most common charger types.

So like the, the lightning one, the USBC, and then whatever the other one is, micro USB.

Heidi: Yeah. Yes.

Emily: That one. And that has like, changed my life because now instead of eating three cords handy for the three different things I need to charge in that spot. I just need one. So it’s super handy.

I’ll put a link in the show notes.

Heidi: Very smart. That is it for today’s episode. Use these 10 steps to manage your back to school chaos, and don’t forget to reach out to your new teachers.

Emily: If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with another parent who could use a roadmap through this hectic back to school season. It might be the thing that saves her sanity.

 

Thanks for tuning in today. Use this week to get a headstart on planning for what’s ahead. And remember, don’t get it perfect. Get it going. Come follow along on Instagram at [00:29:00] the holiday headstart. We would love to hear from you. If you liked this episode, head to Apple Podcast and leave us a review. We’ll see you here next week.