WAKE UP! It’s a School Day!

Disclosure: I am a Serta brand ambassador and I m compensated for my time and participation in the program. I have also received complimentary products for review.
All opinions are my own. 

Back-to-school sleep tips for kids

Many kids in this area are going to back to school after Labor Day, so I wanted to share some back-to-school sleep tips for kids to hopefully create brighter mornings when school starts.

From my work the past three and a half years with Serta, I have had the opportunity to experience firsthand the difference a good night’s sleep makes when sleeping on a quality, supportive mattress like the iComfort.  Serta’s Perfect Sleeper mattress is the official mattress of the National Sleep Foundation – a great resource site for all sleep topics.

Getting enough sleep is essential for a child’s health and well-being, especially during the school year so they can be alert and able to learn.

Summer inevitably brings later bedtimes for the kiddos. With lighter, later nights, fun activities and vacations, parents tend to relax a little on bedtime, especially if they can sleep in the next morning.

But when summer vacation comes to an end, it’s often a rude wake up call for kids to wake up early.

Here are some of my personal tips I have learned through my 8 years of parenting combined with expert advice on back-to-school sleep tips for kids from the National Sleep Foundation.

How to Make Cleaning Up Fun for Kids

How to make cleaning up fun for kids_1

Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere.  Clean up, clean up…who has this song stuck in their head 24/7??  Are your kids over it, too?  Here are my tips for how to make cleaning up fun for kids.

Make it a friendly contest

My first go-to attempt is always, “Who can clean up the fastest?!”  Oh.my.goodness.  My kids go nuts for this.  Both are highly competitive, so this tactic works well in our house.  If both stare at me with blank faces, I’ll jump in and start furiously cleaning, saying “Look, mama is winning!”  Boom.  That gets them up!

1st Day of School Traditions

traditions

I am one of those mamas who cry on the first day of school. And, the night before the first day of school. I can’t help it.  Today, I’d like to share my special 1st day of school traditions.  The kids love it.  Their daddy and I love it.  And, I love having a way to commemorate and celebrate their new year in school.

Kid Interviews

An Evening at the New Irvine Improv

irvineimprov

Last weekend my husband and I were treated to two tickets to see one of our favorite comedians, David Spade, perform at the new Irvine Improv in the Irvine Spectrum shopping center.

The show happened to fall on my parents 45th wedding anniversary, so we invited them to join us and had the BEST NIGHT EVER!

I had been hearing  lots of good buzz about the new Irvine Improv and its fab new location attached to a super cool Umami Burger (the biggest in OC) across from the Edwards IMAX movie theater in the Spectrum.

Keeping Your Sanity in the Back-to-School Madness

How to keep your back-to-school sanity

Recently I was perusing this post on 31 Writing Prompts for August to get my creative juices flowing and #5 hit me before I could even read on, it asked, “How do you respond to change?”

My immediate thought?

Not well.

And, this is the time of year my response to change stares me right in my anxiety-ridden face: back-to-school.

The anxiety starts to kick in a couple weeks before school starts and culminates with me feeling like I am losing my sanity come the second week of school.

BUT, I want to try to do things differently this year. Handle the school year transition with a little more ease, which inspired this post on how to keep your back-to-school sanity….