I love having the kids at home during school holidays, the unstructured days and the spontaneous play (today captain underpants made an appearance!)

Tonight I am getting myself in the school zone and thinking about the #parentinghacks I use to make it through the week.

Self-care

As a wife, a busy mum of three boys and small business owner, it's a juggle to say the least. I have noticed a significant shift since I incorporated a morning ritual for myself. My favourites are a warm cup of tea, a bulletproof hot cacao or a meditation. By making sure my needs are being met before anyone else, this simple act has brought about big changes. I invite you to give this a try - not all three, just one each day!

Lunch Boxes

My husband James does the weekly shop (perks of working on a Saturday!) and we make sure the house is stocked with plenty of healthy goodness before the school week hits.

Lunchbox essentials:

• Raw organic vegetables, carrots, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, red capsicum.

• Preservative-free organic protein - e.g organic chicken leftovers, sliced ham, brie, cheese.

• Fruit - apples, pears, watermelon, grapes and banana for crunch and sip

• Healthy baked goods - my favourites are Teresa Cutter's oat and choc chip balls, gluten-free Anzac cookies or the healthy mammy nut-free muesli bars (no nuts and heaps of beautiful seeds for good fibre, protein and a range of nutrients)

• Other ideas to keep it interesting like pickles, corn chips, or the occasional packet treat (no, I'm not perfect and still use the occasional packaged food for my kids after I have scanned the ingredients) The store-bought packaged items we like are messy monkey popcorn, messy monkey apple and mango bars and eat rite brown rice crackers.

Shoes in the car!

We recently moved house so unfortunately, school is no longer walking distance. So I make sure all their shoes are in the car the night before! The kids put their shoes on on the way to school (this seriously saves 30 minutes protesting/negotiating at home!) OMG do your kids do the same? TRY IT!

Delegate or Outsource

Thankfully, I have a husband who is willing to roll up his sleeves and pitch-in, especially if it’s in the best interests of his little kings! Some mornings James will take care of the lunchbox prep so that I can exercise (see my first point about self-care!) and this helps me enormously. If there's anything you can delegate or outsource this school term, I would invite you to have that conversation with your partner, your extended family or friends so you are more supported. It makes the world of difference.

One final note, as I have such a beautiful following here (even though its small I’m forever grateful (insert prayer hands emoji)

Be your child’s advocate

The whole school journey has been incredibly interesting and eye-opening for sure. There are so many things I don't agree with, and it was a painful journey of ‘letting go’ when Sonny started. I think there is a lot of room for improvement in the school system! I’ve spent hours researching home schooling and it's something I have space for and still consider. But I'm just going to say that the biggest thing I have learned is that, YOU ARE YOUR CHILD’S ADVOCATE. The school works for you and your child, not the other way around. The purpose of this section of my post is to encourage you to be your child’s advocate. If you are not OK with something about your child’s school, the teacher, the structure or the way they are disciplined, I believe it is more important than ever that we advocate for our child. Staying quiet doesn't make way for change.

So I hope that you found some of my tips useful. I’m keen to hear from anyone who has any awesome school hacks as I most certainly don't have it nailed! (Confession: towards the end of last term we were late many more times than we were on time, and had many of my famous 'pyjama days' which means we didn't make it there at all!

E x