A short live radio/YouTube segment (Mental Wellness Wednesday) hosted by life coach Rebeccah Silence (the Unsilent Woman) discussing practical strategies for parents during the back-to-school transition. The speakers emphasize three core actions: (1) parents should check in with their own needs and set themselves up to win (self-care, outsourcing errands, scheduling), (2) delegate age-appropriate responsibilities to children (laundry, cooking, arranging rides) to build skills and reduce parental overload, and (3) regularly ask children how they are feeling about school and listen—addressing social, emotional, and organizational stressors (examples: changing classes, loss of recess, peer conflict). The piece mixes concrete examples, parenting coaching language, and community resources (unsilentwoman.com, mix1025.com).
We're live and local. It's mix 102.5, big papa in the morning on a mental wellness Wednesday with the unsilent woman herself, life coach Rebecca. Silence. You can go to the unsilent woman dot com. Rebecca, Good morning. How are you?
Hey, everybody, let's make magic happen.
Speaking of making magic happen, it's this time of the year where it seems like you're pulling everything out of a hat and just trying to keep your schedule straight, because this is. This is, you know, you go from the summertime where you don't have as much structure as many things, and now all of a sudden it's, parents have their work schedules and then they have their kids extracurriculars, whether it's sports and practices and games and, you know, dance classes and instruments and concerts and all. All this stuff. And if you have multiple children and multiple things that are different, trying to coordinate all that stuff, it can be absolutely maddening. So let's make some magic and help people kind of get through this situation and. And try to come up with a plan that helps them get through the day to day.
Yeah, absolutely. And instead of helping you get through, let's have you transition. Well, because I don't want us missing a month of our life because it's just check, check, check. What's next on the to do list? Who has to be where it is a very.
That's how most people are attacking it, because it can be extremely overwhelming.
100%. And out here in Colorado, we're a month into the school year already, so the dust is starting to settle. So let's, let's help you get ahead of things I. Out east, I think the number one most important thing is to really check in with yourself as the adult, as the parent, and go, what do I need to be set up? Well, right now, and that might sound counterintuitive because you want to make sure the kids are set up to win, your spouse is set up to win, the pets are set up to win, all of the places you go for the extracurricular activities. But I want you to really take a beat and ask yourself, what do I need to be set up? Well, maybe you need to make sure you have time built into your weeks for your workouts. Maybe you need to make sure that at least this month instacart is where it's at because I don't have the bandwidth for the groceries. And these little things can be so helpful. Maybe now you've got a middle schooler and they can start Doing their own laundry. Maybe your middle schooler could start cooking one night a week for the family. I think one of the pieces that we don't talk about enough is setting ourselves up to win as parents, but also letting your kids struggle and learn how to set themselves up to win. Right. So often we are failing our kids when we do it all for them. Sure, I'm guilty of this. I have a 20 year old. I did way too much for, for way too long. We just tell our kids what to think, tell our kids how to feel, tell our kids, you know, what they need instead of letting them think for themselves, find their answers for themselves. Your kids are going to need to learn to do laundry and they're going to need to learn how to cook. So if they're in middle school, do you get they could be doing some of this and taking some of that weight off of you. Helping with the house, clean, cleaning, helping with how the household is run. I want you to check in with you. What do I need to be set up? Well, and then I want you to next. What do I need to delegate to my kids that I'm afraid to. Because I don't think.
No, some of the things to delegate could be something as simple as. I'm not going to be able to pick you up from practice. Okay. I have, I just physically cannot get there. Find a way home.
Absolutely.
And you can, you know, ask a teammate, ask a friend, whatever. But like literally just put that on their plate. I, there was a million times that was on my plate when I was growing up.
Absolutely. And the thing about it is, if your kid is old enough to start driving, they are old enough to be helping a lot. And it isn't that you want to put pressure on your kid or have them earn their keep. That's not what we're talking about. It's about your kids getting the skill of being able to talk to people and figure out a ride home to make a nice meal for themselves. Ideally for the family to be able to do their own laundry, to be able to manage their time. So, you know, after checking in with you, what do you need? And then delegating some things to your kids, talk to your kid about what do they need to be set up? Well. Right. How are they feeling about going back to school? It is such a simple question, but take the time to ask it and then listen to their answer. Because your kid is going to be up against something, whether it's social stress, emotional stress, mental stress, trying to figure out how to be organized and keep it all together. We have a fifth grader this year that is changing classes for the first time. And that was very stressful for her. I like having my one class. And then she was super bummed because at her school up until fourth grade there's two recess and in fifth grade there's one. So we had to grieve the loss of a recession. We had to talk about the stress of changing classes. We had the first day of school, she came home and said, all the mean girls in my huddle, that's their homeroom, they call it huddle at our school here. All the mean girls, mom, all of them, every single one in my huddle. And we had to talk about that. And she was so funny because she said, I'm not that worried about me because I can stand up for myself. But all my friends that don't know how to do that, the mean girls are, are in the huddle. And that is a really stressful situation. Right. And if you don't take the time to talk about what is stressing you out or what could and how do we get ahead of it. Now your kid is feeling alone and or it's just compounding like a snowball all of this stress. And if you don't know, you can't help them. So talking to your kids about if I don't know, I can't help and there's nothing you can't tell me. I'm not going to judge you. You're not going to scare me. I've been around the block. But what's going on? Maybe a certain friend is starting to use drugs. Maybe a certain friend is starting to have sex. Maybe you know, a friend that used to be a really good friend is getting distant and your kid's upset about it, but you don't know. So these are the big three pieces I want us focused on. Back to school school. Number one, you set up to win. Number two, involve your kids not in a you're a dictator and they have to and they have to earn their keep way, but they have skills they have to learn eventually. So let's work together as a team. And I need your help with these things. And then sure you get to learn how to drive my car. And sure, I will take you and your friends, you know, once a week to do whatever you're doing. But I need your help in these areas and then just help. How are you? What is concerning for you with the back to school grind? And if you have a kid balancing work and school, that's a lot. Do you remember those days? Right. Like, talk to them how they doing and be sure to praise them for what they're doing really well. Don't just talk about here's what I need from you or here's what not to do. And we do want to make sure we're making good choices. Right. But also talk to them about what they're doing really well.
Absolutely. It is a Mental Wellness Wednesday. The Unsilent woman Rebecca Silence life coach extraordinaire. It's so there was so much info in all of that. There was ton to take away from it. If you missed any of it, you can check it out online right now@mix1025.com mental wellness Wednesday life coach Rebecca silence the unsilent woman dot com. We'll talk to you next week.
