Hey, mommies, how are you today? In my previous post, I wrote about how to achieve a stress-free morning routine for kids. And surprisingly, this post was a big success among mommies, and even men and women. Also, I got so many greeting messages, questions, and requests on similar topics, and one of the requests was to share my point of view on how to achieve a stress-free afternoon routine for kids.
Well, let’s dive into our crazy afternoon days when our kids come back from school.
“Mom! Where are you? I am hungry!” I hear this from my son every day from the garage with my entrance door closed. When I open the door, I see Gordon’s shoes scattered everywhere, his jacket piled up on the garage floor, and his school bag is still in the car or tossed next to the car. And the afterschool routine begins here…
These afterschool days are a typical scene for many families. When I meet mommies and grandparents in public places, they unhappily and stressfully share their feelings on how they are exhausted and overwhelmed when their kids come back from school. They complain that their kids do not want to put their shoes away, bring their school bags from the car, or do their homework, saying that they are tired.
Sometimes it can be easy for parents to give in to their kids if they say they are tired and do not want to do anything. Maybe they let kids postpone their homework till evenings. But they may not realize that, by postponing until the evening, it will make it more difficult to get work done.
Sometimes, we, parents, do not know what has to be changed and how it has to be changed. If you think that just picking up kids from school and feeding them is an afterschool routine, then you are mistaken. To achieve a stress-free afternoon routine for kids requires a little more work and effort if you want your kids to succeed at his educational and sport levels.
Again, do not overthink! Simplify your thinking. Just follow your gut and implement your afternoon tasks into action.
At first, I think there are three important tasks I have to do before and during a stress-free afternoon routine in order to achieve the easy and quick result.
My simple afternoon tips:
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Organize your afternoon time before your kids come back from school.
It is like the same tip on how to organize pre-morning time, discussing breakfast choices with your kid. Before I take my son to school, I always discuss quickly what kind of lunch he wants to eat after school. I prefer to discuss a lunch choice with my son for two reasons: it helps to save time after school and gives extra time to move on to other homework duties.
Also, I always make sure that my daily responsibilities and chores are done and I am prepared to achieve a stress-free afternoon routine for my son after school. Once, I did not have time to finish my daily chores, and I had a challenge to maintain my schedule and time to manage my stress-free afternoon routine. So try to wisely organize your afternoon time before your kids come home from school.
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Organize your afternoon homework time.
These days, kids do not have much homework to do at home. Most classwork and homework is done in class or online. Children work and participate in classwork and different projects, learning how to brainstorm, organize, and develop speech and writing skills. Besides, they learn how to create the main ideas/headings. and this will help them become an expert on any topic they want to write or speak about. It will be a true showcase of our children’s abilities for the long-term.
So what I am trying to say is when kids are in class, the teacher always plans and executes her classwork goals to achieve the desired result for our kids. When my son comes back from school, he still has his homework duties to do in a small amount. And to achieve a stress-free afternoon routine for kids, my husband and I plan the afternoon time smartly in order to develop actual time without procrastination. It helps my son save actual time, execute his actual time quicker and respectfully, and enjoy the rest of his actual time on his own.
Steps to achieve, save, and enjoy actual time:
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Setting up a homework/study place and calendar
I always make sure that my son has a convenient place for studying. To save time and make his homework easier, I always make sure that his study place is surrounded with a lot of natural light and great atmosphere. It is always great to do homework in full natural light rather than in a small area without natural light and air. My son has an office, but he likes to work on his homework in our open kitchen. And I am fine with that.
Every week, my son brings us a homework calendar, where my husband and I can see the weekly homework scheduled from Monday to Friday. I let my son attach his schedule to his office wall to remind him about his homework duties, such as reading 20 minutes or online tasks that should be done for the next day. Also, my son goes to Kumon school twice a week, and he is also responsible for Kumon homework.
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Setting up a homework time
My slogan: never postpone something that you can do right now. It is not always easy to follow and execute for adults, not to mention our kids. However, I often tell this slogan to my son because this will teach him to set his priorities first, focus on the wide expectations, be responsible for his actions and words, and be punctual to receive his desired result.
So my son always has 45 minutes to rest after school. This includes eating lunch and watching his favorite show on TV. I always set the time to achieve my stress-free afternoon routine and for homework to be started. It helps me and my son to collaborate at a healthy pace to achieve our desired result.
For example:
- My son comes home at 3:15p.m.
- His hot lunch is ready.
- He washes his hands, watches TV, and eats his lunch.
- At 4:00 p.m., it’s time to do his homework:
- Reading 20 mins
- Finishing his homework online
- Working on Kumon
It usually takes 1 hour and 20 mins. If my son has better focus one day, he can be done with his homework duties in 45 mins.
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Setting up an after-homework time
Being productive, enhancing kids’ standards, analyzing kids’ abilities, teaching them responsibilities and how not to be procrastinators are great accomplishments we can be proud of. I always have a discussion about it with my son. Trying to show him the big difference between being a winner and a procrastinator.
Finally, he sees the difference, because he realizes that my slogan “never postpone something that you can do right now” gives him so many other chances to embrace his world more widely and valuably. Going to practice basketball with his friends, taking Taekwondo lessons, developing his swimming skills for moving to pre-competition level, and many other activities will make my son’s vision of life stronger and wiser. It will help him to establish his strengths and point of view in his early age and move him to the next level of self-awareness and confidence.
I think achieving a stress-free afternoon routine for kids is not that hard. It might seem impossible and so much to digest. But I always say to mommies: Do not overthink! Simplify your thinking and make your afternoon routine just like fun!
Once you continue these simple afternoon tips in the same way, they will become a habit and a part of your everyday life!