There are things nobody should discover Monday morning.

Friday’s yogurt is one of them.

Instead of waiting until the next morning to deal with backpacks, we reset them when they come home.

The Hack

When the kids get home:

1. Lunchbox comes out.

2. Water bottle comes out.

3. Papers/forms come to Mom.

4. Homework or anything requiring attention comes out.

5. Backpack goes back to its designated spot.

That’s it.

I’m not asking children to completely prepare for tomorrow the second they walk through the door.

I’m just getting today’s stuff out.

Because when papers sit inside backpacks, I don’t know there’s a permission slip waiting for me.

When the water bottle stays inside, nobody realizes it’s missing until tomorrow morning.

When the lunchbox stays zipped?

We don’t need to discuss what happens in there.

Then Tonight…

During the Tomorrow Starts Tonight reset, anything that needs to go back into the backpack can go in.

After school = empty.

Night before = reload.

Morning = grab it and go.

That’s a system my brain can handle.