Getting to school stress-free

AUSTIN(KXAN) - Shemyn Warren has years of experience with getting her children out of the door in the morning and off to school, but the daily task can still be a challenge. 

Start with a child in preschool, a child in elementary and a child in junior high. Now add three lunches, three backpacks and homework.  Did we forget to mention her two sons have athletic gear to drag along? Just getting out of the door stress-free can be tough.

Warren manages the mornings with a lot of planning starting the night before.  She makes sure backpacks are by the back door with homework inside.  Then she wakes up before everyone else.

"If something goes south with them, and I don't have time to go back to me, then I'm really frantic," said mom Shemyn Warren.  "So that's my first way of trying to make sure the day goes smooth is having me 100 percent ready to go."

She packs lunches and makes breakfast before her children get up.

"I'll try to get everybody's lunch ready, then I'll start on breakfast, then I'll start waking them up," said Warren.  "I bring them downstairs and feed them."

Certified Professional Organizer Angela Ploetz says Warren could enlist the children's help with more like packing lunches and preparing breakfast.

"Getting them more involved so that it's not all coming on mom," said Certified Professional Organizer Angela Ploetz.  "She's kind of spreading it out a little bit more."

Tips for stress-free mornings

Ploetz has three strategies to help families get out of the door stress-free in the morning.

1. Prepare all you can the night before -- lunches, backpacks and clothes.
2. Talk to your child about the schedule to cut down on anxiety, especially kindergartners and children going to new schools.
3. Label everything.

"Many people shop at the same places," said Ploetz.  "We end up with the same backpacks or lunch boxes or even the same thermoses, and in a kindergarten classroom or in a 5th grade classroom, they're all gonna look alike."

A simple label on a lunch box could lower stress levels for little ones like Warren's preschooler, who is learning to keep up with her things.

As a new school year begins, Ploetz also recommends double checking the school district's and school's website to make sure you know the dress code and traffic flow around the school if you are dropping off or picking up your children.

Ploetz reminds people to focus on a positive start to the day, so hopefully the rest of the day will follow.  Your children may have a more productive day at school, and you may feel healthier.

"Having that good positive attitude is really gonna help instead of making them stressed out as well," said Ploetz.