From a Scatterbrained Summer to an Orderly School Year
DROWSY DRIVING The Same as Driving Drunk? Most people know it’s unsafe to drive while intoxicated and will take active measures to avoid it, like limiting their alcohol intake, calling a ride-share, or using a designated driver. Yet, the same people who would never consider driving drunk will often think nothing of driving while they are drowsy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) refers to operating a motor vehicle while sleepy or fatigued as “drowsy driving,” and it can be just as dangerous as drunk driving. In 2017 alone, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that there were 91,000 drowsy driving-related crashes, resulting in 50,000 injuries and 800 deaths. Because drivers will often not admit they were driving while drowsy, experts believe this is an underestimation and that drowsy driving causes closer to a staggering 6,000 deaths per year. There is no test for drowsy driving, but the CDC says that being awake for 18 hours has the same impact as a blood alcohol content of 0.05%, and being awake for 24 hours approximates a BAC of 0.10%. Even worse, many of us have terrible judgment when it comes to deciding if we’re alert enough to get behind the wheel. The pressures of getting to work, school, or an appointment on time can feel overwhelming and cause people to decide they can just push through the fatigue.
Summer break (especially for young kiddos) is a lawless time with little meaning that’s punctuated by a vacation or trips to the park and pool. Transitioning children back to the calm, orderly world of the school year can be challenging for both teachers and parents. How can you make sure your kids trade in their summer hats for their school brains? Well, luckily, you can use a few hacks to make that transition brighter, seamless, and even fun. CREATE A FUN CHECKLIST FOR SCHOOL TO-DO’S. pelling out all the tasks your kids have to do before and after school will help them ease back into the routines of going to bed each night and getting up early for school. Plus, it will introduce them to the satisfaction of checking items off a list after completing them. When your kids know what to do and when to do it, it makes your day a little easier! MAKE A COLOR-CODED CLOCK. Lots of kids are visual learners, which means an analog clock will be their best friend when it comes to keeping track of time. Color code different sections of the clock for different parts of the day to help them remember what they’re supposed to be doing, whether it’s blue for breakfast time, orange for homework hour, or purple for their bedtime routine. MAKE SCHOOL SUPPLY CUBBIES. If your child tends to throw their backpack and jackets all over the house, then school supply cubbies could be a game-changer. You could even just label different hooks in your mudroomor hallway if that’s all you have to work with. Whatever the case, when your kids have an established place to put their school stuff, it’s that much easier for them to find as they head out the door in the morning. ORGANIZE YOUR SCHOOL LUNCH SUPPLIES. Making your kids’ lunches each morning can be exhausting, but if you put different lunch items (e.g., bags of chips, apples, juice pouches, etc.) in different, easy-to-reach containers, you can turn making school lunches into an assembly line process where your kids do most of the work themselves, teaching them responsibility and taking a load off of your shoulders every school morning. You can even consider making the lunches the night before to lighten up the morning routine! PLAN YOUR KIDS’ OUTFITS FOR THE NEXT DAY … OR THE NEXTWEEK. If they had their way, you know your kiddos would wear the same Spider Man or Elsa T-shirt every day of the week. So, if you want to make sure they look respectable and ready to learn every day, plan out their outfits for the entire school week. This is especially easy if they have a set of hanging cubbies in their closets. Allow them to help choose outfits on a Saturday or Sunday before the newweek; it will also help them learn how to dress themselves later in life.
Easy Peach Cobbler
Celebrate the end of summer —and peach season—with this simple and tasty peach cobbler!
Back-to-school season shouldn’t be hectic — and with a few of these hacks in mind, it won’t be!
Inspired by MyRecipes.com
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