Why School Spirit Week Doesn’t Break Me Anymore
The simple system that saves my sanity from pajama days, permission slips, and endless reminders
This week is Halloween and it feel like I’m getting pummeled from requests on my time and energy.
Frank had a pumpkin due last week that was supposed to be decorated to look a character from a book. We spent several hours on Sunday creating a pumpkin version of Captain Underpants.
In addition to our regular Halloween costumes for trick or treating, both of my elementary school kids are supposed to dress up for the “vocabulary parade” at school which required additional costumes.
And this year since Frank is in 5th grade, I’ve been asked to bring in donations for the Halloween school dance to raise funds for the 5th grade party. Oh yes, and I volunteered to help out for 30 minutes at the actual event.
In addition to all that, it’s red ribbon week and each the day the kids are supposed to wear different things. Today it was a red shirts and no Libby doesn’t own anything red.
Sigh.
I’m sure you have your own laundry list of all these expectations placed on you by the school and community and it feels like a lot.
Well, it is a lot.
Because at the heart of it, you, like me, want to be a really great mom.
You care deeply about your kids and want to them to feel loved and cared for and to not be the only kid who shows up without a red shirt.
A few years ago, I started looking at these tasks as “mom admin” and developed a strategy that’s helped me to navigate these requests.
Here’s how I’ve learned to navigate all of this “extra” mom stuff without massive amounts of mom guilt.
I stopped looking to others to decide what it means to be a good mom.
I prioritize having margin and designed a life where I can live within my capacity.
I focus on what matters to my kids and stopped trying to impress others.
I created a Mom Admin rotation that allows me to set boundaries and have clear expectations for myself.
🔒 Paid subscribers: Keep reading for my exact 4-part strategy for handling 'mom admin,' including how I decide what to say yes to, how I budget my mental capacity for the holidays, and why I finally stopped buying the purple shirt on a random Tuesday.
