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Community Corner

Moms Talk: Organization

The Suffield Patch Moms Council talks about organizing.

Suffield Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in Suffield.

Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions.

So grab a cup of coffee and settle in and welcome three of our Suffield moms, Cami Beiter, Lisa Coatti and Sherry Paquette. The topic today is organization.

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What are some organizing tips for parents and kids? Summer is a great time to take a couple of rainy days and get organized before the next school year. What works for you and your family?

Lisa Coatti

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We still have a few weeks left of summer but the paperwork demands are already starting. Health forms for Kindergarten, soccer forms, emergency forms and more are all being summoned. If you have children that do more than just breathe, you are required to have a superhuman level of organization.

Even the most organized of families will inevitably forget an appointment, hand in paperwork late or show up at an event to find it is the wrong date or wrong location. Increase the number of children in the family and you must increase that organizational superpower exponentially. In our house I have a few systems that help control the chaos.

  • Magazine Holders. Children come home with a ton of papers and forms. I try to go through the documents right away. Toss the unnecessary stuff. If a form has to be returned to school try to complete it right away, otherwise it risks being forgotten. I designate a decorative cardboard magazine holder for each child in the house. The important papers that need to be saved or filled out later will go into the magazine holder marked with the child’s name. The holder allows you to quickly store the papers without much effort and can be neatly stored on a shelf or desktop. When I need something relating to that particular child, I know I will find it in their specific holder.
  • Online Calendar. Another useful tool is an online calendar like Google Calendar or Cozi. Every important event can be entered into the calendar. Appointments, project due dates, field trips, game schedules and concerts all go onto one calendar which can be accessed from my computer at work, home or my smart phone. The less common events such as concerts or field trips get set with an alarm the day before as an extra reminder. We print a paper copy of the monthly calendar and post it on our kitchen bulletin board because sometimes it helps to look at a hard copy.
  •  Bulletin Board. The kitchen bulletin board is also a tool that comes in handy. Concert reminders, birthday invitations, phone numbers, and other obscure items can get tacked on the board for easy reference. Once the event is over, the paper gets tossed in the trash to make way for the next piece.

No method is foolproof. You have to remember to look at the calendar, sort through the papers and discard expired invitations. Aside from hiring a personal secretary however, these methods help me lasso some of the disorder that comes through the house like a paper tornado every day.

Sherry Paquette

The school bus is roaring down your street, fast approaching your house and disregarding the shrieks of panic coming from your children.

"Mom!" screams one of your little darlings. "Where is my protractor?"

Your mind races as you throw sandwiches and apples in paper lunch bags.

"Is that the thing you put the little pencil in?" you ask as the cat walks directly under your feet.

"No, Mom! That is a compass!"

Does this scenario sound vaguely familiar? Over the years, I have realized that getting super organized before the start of the school year can really help with the end of summer transition. Even if organization doesn’t stick for more than a month or so, you can always revitalize it from time to time throughout the school year.

Get as much as possible done the night before. Make sure backpacks are packed up with all necessary books, notebooks and supplies. Pack lunches and put them in the refrigerator. Hang school clothes on the outside of closet doors – let the kids pick out their clothes at night. Remember to set the kitchen table for breakfast.

Have one desk or a couple of drawers set up for all the school supplies. Stock this with pens, pencils, crayons, a protractor, a compass, paper, notebooks, rulers, a pencil sharpener and anything else your student will need. As the beginning of the school year progresses, you will figure out what supplies are necessary. Most teachers give out a list regarding supplies at the beginning of the year.

Create a few “homework spots” in your home. Some younger children do well at the kitchen table. As kids get older, though, they usually need more secluded areas in order to focus.

Make a simple “school file” for each child. This is where all the papers that need to be saved for that student can be kept.

A large calendar on the refrigerator or wall is really useful for organizing schedules. Doctor appointments, sports, activities and social events can all get marked down right away.

A few weeks after school starts, revisit all of your efforts to be organized. Figure out what works for your family and what does not. Tweak as needed.

Cami Beiter

I’m the master of piles and procrastination so I’m really not the person to be voicing tips on organizational strategies.

I’m guilty of lecturing my kids on their lack of organization, then turning around and ignoring the basket full of unopened mail and back issues of The New Yorker. The intentions are there, but something always seems more important. I try to lead by example, but unloading groceries, dinner preparations and friendly visitors tend to take priority.

Summer is a great time to take a couple of rainy days to get organized. But when the rain is pounding on the window, finding the motivation to organize (with kids) is bleak. They feel stuck in the house, trapped with one another. Organizing in harmony is as believable as a lame, scripted reality show. Orchestrating organizational goals, along with their moods, is a migraine waiting to happen.

It could be sunny, rainy or foggy. When I feel the need to organize and prep for the school year, the timing has to be right. The kids could be putting their laundry away at 7 p.m. and suddenly we’re going through drawers and closets while creating a donation pile.

The kids will turn on music and begin going through their things. I’ll sit on the bed with a notebook jotting down needed items since I unintentionally ignore the basket where the mail, specifically the letters from school and supply lists, sit. Hooray for the Suffield Public School Web site!

When it comes to school preparation, I’m usually frazzled and scatterbrained. When the kids where little I convinced myself that I was organized and in control – at least it seemed that way.

I love to organize... when I’m in the mood. I’ll organize for most occasions when it’s absolutely necessary, usually around tax season, the scheduled in-law visit and the anticipated back-to-school preparation. Everything else I can do tomorrow.

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