Back to School 8.17.25 - Flipbook - Page 4
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A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Sunday, August 17, 2025
Balancing the Calendar: Strategies for Managing After-School
Chaos Without Losing Your Mind
By Claire Duarte, Contributing Writer
Keep Dinner Simple and Realistic
Dinner is one of those things that feels like
it should be magical but often becomes just
another source of pressure. The good news?
It doesn’t have to be fancy to be successful.
Batch-cooking meals on Sundays, prepping
some ingredients ahead of time, or creating a
loose theme for each night of the week can ease
the mental load.
Have a few go-to meals you can make in
under 20 minutes. Think pasta and veggies,
grilled cheese with soup, or rotisserie chicken
and a salad kit. Even breakfast for dinner can
be a lifesaver on the nights when everything
runs late.
F
or many families, the hours between
school pickup and bedtime feel like a
full-contact sport. There are snacks to
serve, homework to supervise, sports
practices to attend, dinners to cook, permission
slips to sign, and backpacks to repack for the
next day. It’s a short window of time but somehow packed with a week’s worth of responsibility.
This is the stretch of the day when everything needs to happen. And for parents, it can
feel relentless. One minute you’re answering
an email, the next you’re trying to remember
if you RSVP’d to that field trip. You’re moving
fast, multitasking hard and often just hoping to
make it to bedtime with a little bit of energy left
over.
As the school year gets underway, the after-school rhythm can either support your
family or completely unravel it. And while we
can’t magically add more hours to the day, we
can build systems that give the time we do have
more structure, purpose and ease.
Look at the Big Picture
Before you fill in your calendar with every single activity, it’s worth pausing to think
about what actually matters most. Ask yourself:
What are the true priorities in this season? Is it
making sure your child gets to a weekly therapy
appointment or attends their favorite sport or
club? Is it preserving two nights a week for dinner at the table and early bedtimes?
It’s easy to feel like everything is important,
especially in the fall when new schedules feel
exciting. But when every “yes” starts to compete for your energy, things can spiral fast. Getting clear on your non-negotiables helps reduce
decision fatigue later and makes it easier to say
no to the extras that don’t serve your family.
Use Tools That Help Everyone Stay On The
Same Page
Once your top priorities are clear, start
building a flexible routine around them. Tools
like Google Calendar, Cozi or TimeTree are
great for mapping out practices, playdates,
work meetings and everything in between. If
you’re co-parenting or managing logistics with
a partner, these apps can become your communication lifeline. They prevent double-booking
and give everyone a real-time look at the week
ahead.
Build in Transition Time
Instead of racing from the school pickup
line straight into homework or a sports practice, try building in a buffer. Give your kids 15
minutes to reset after school. That might look
like a snack and a book, some quiet time in
their room or a walk around the block. These
short pauses help them shift gears and can
prevent the friction that often shows up when
they’re rushed from one demand to the next.
For younger kids, a printed weekly schedule can be a lifesaver. Keep it simple: list after-school activities, dinner times and bedtime.
Stick it on the fridge where kids can see it. This
gives them a visual cue for what to expect each
day and encourages a sense of independence.
Create Structure With Predictable Anchor
Points
When the whole evening feels unpredictable, kids often act out or resist. Anchoring your
evening with a consistent rhythm helps reduce
the number of decisions you have to make and
lowers the chances of daily meltdowns.
You don’t need a perfectly timed itinerary.
Just pick a few moments to keep consistent.
Maybe snacks happen right after school, homework gets tackled around the same time each
afternoon, and dinner lands on the table at a
predictable hour. Even if you’re eating leftovers
or microwaving quesadillas, what matters is the
routine itself.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Carpooling
If you’re spending more time in the car than
at home, it might be time to reach out to your
village. Carpooling can make a huge difference
in reducing stress and freeing up pockets of
time. Coordinate with neighbors, teammates
or other school parents. Even if it’s just one or
two shared rides a week, that could mean one
less rushed dinner or an extra hour to focus on
homework, bath time or just being home.
Practice the Art of Saying No
This might be the hardest part of balancing
the after-school hours. Saying no to something
– an activity, an invitation, even a volunteer ask
– can feel uncomfortable, especially when it involves our kids.
But overcommitting is a fast track to burnout. If your week is filled with so much activity
that you’re eating dinner in the car five nights
a week or losing sleep trying to keep up, it’s
OK to step back. Quiet evenings and unstructured play are just as valuable as enrichment
programs and organized sports. In fact, those
slower moments often lead to better sleep,
stronger regulation and more meaningful conversations.
Predictability Builds Emotional Safety
According to licensed therapist Darin Connelly, LCSW-C, structure is one of the most
powerful tools a parent can offer.
“When kids know what’s coming next,
they feel safer and they’re better able to handle
change when it happens,” Connelly explains.
“It’s not about rigid schedules. It’s about creating a sense of rhythm that helps them feel
secure.”
It’s not just kids who benefit from this.
Adults thrive on predictability, too. When your
family knows what the evening flow typically
looks like, you can plan ahead, minimize conflict and spend more time connecting.
Give Yourself Grace
No family routine is going to look perfect
every week. Some nights will be smooth. Some
will be exhausting. There will be nights when
dinner is cereal, homework is forgotten, and
someone cries in the car. That’s part of the deal.
But with the right systems in place and a
little bit of flexibility, you can shift from barely
surviving the after-school chaos to finding connection within it. You don’t have to do it all, and
you definitely don’t have to do it alone.
Photo: Adobe Stock
