Late January our youngest started secondary school. For those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning, you might even remember his arrival. He came along a year into this blog’s life. With this little one now at secondary school, we have three kids at secondary school, one at uni and one making his way into the working world.
2021 marks the start of a new stage for our family. I think I am the one in the family most aware of it and the one that definitely has the most feelings about it. Moving into new family stages always creates a mix of feelings for me, excited, happy and some sadness.
I shed some tears on his first day, when he had left and couldn’t see them. I miss having him around in the mornings and afternoons. He now leaves home about 40 mins earlier than he used to and gets home about 30 minutes later. This was generally just time we had on our own together. And while I miss this time, I am so happy for him. He has come home beaming each day, often a little tired, but full of stories and pure enjoyment of so many new experiences.
Along with starting secondary school, there are also a range of other changes that happen for him, as happened for his siblings before him:
- Pocket money goes up, but he is expected to pay for more things himself.
- A later bed time.
- Increased screen time.
- Increased independence heading out after school with friends without advanced planning.
- Now eligible for more challenging household tasks!
The other two secondary school kids are in year 9 and year 12 and they have some changes too. So basically we need a complete overhaul of our routines and rhythms. I have already started on some of this and am going to be sharing how we are working this out and what it looks like in the new round of Planned + Present.
Some of the key things we will be reworking are:
- A time assessment for me – with Adapt Drinks, Planning With Kids and Planned + Present on the go, I want to reassess how much time I am spending on each and reallocate based on my goals for this year.
- Revise morning and evening routines
- Change up the household tasks that Phil and the kids do
- Refine the screen time use of the younger kids
Planned + Present is currently open for registration and if you would like to join along with me, make sure you take the premium option because that is where I will be doing weekly Facebook lives sharing our changes and taking questions, and providing additional support and accountability regularly in the group.
I have found to stay organised at home and keep harmony at home, routines and plans need to change as the family changes and now is the perfect time to revamp them!
I had published that the premium option would commence on Monday February 15th, but I was swamped with getting orders out with Adapt Drinks so I need to push it back until Monday 22nd February so I am fully prepared and organised to be able to support the group and share our new changes.
I would love to have you in the group, so if you have any questions, let me know!