(10 minute read)

Happy September! For as long as I can remember this ninth month on the calendar has felt like the official beginning of the year (and the end of summer). This holds true for children, adults who were once children attending school (which includes all of us), teachers and parents. I am envisioning that office supply store commercial where the parent is pushing the shopping cart loaded with notebooks, loose leaf paper, highlighters and glue sticks, dancing through the aisles with her kids in tow, singing “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” Instead of the joy that Christmas brings, it is that back-to-school bliss a parent of four active children feels as she sends her brood out of the house after a long summer. It is also the excitement and anticipation children of all ages feel as they prepare for their next year ahead in school. New teacher, new classmates, new grade level…The cleaning of the slate and beginning the next chapter brings forth the opportunity for everyone to build new habits and start fresh.

Today, I want to share my top TEN Tips for September. I came up with these words of wisdom from my different perspectives as a student, a parent and a teacher. As much as I enjoyed the lazy days of summer, I loved returning to Happy Valley School each September. The new classroom and teacher, the promotion to the next grade level, the upper playground, and the fresh start. Year after year, elementary to junior high and into high school, Labor Day weekend was the page turner, when change was imminent. Then it was off to college where every single thing was different, from the bed I slept in to the people I shared meals with. Before long, I flipped the script and it was me at the front of the classroom teaching the class, charting the course for the brand new school year.

Even though thirty years have passed since I have prepared my room for the new group of students, I still get a nervous excited feeling towards the end of August. Some nights I even dream I have just been given a teaching job and I only have hours to prepare. I wake up and am disappointed to realize it was only a dream. A great deal of planning precedes the school year. Color coded charts, motivating posters, cubbies with names, desks stocked with freshly sharpened pencils and unopened boxes of Crayola crayons inside desks in rows or in clusters. The alphabet (Ape to Zebra) stretches across the front of the classroom above the chalk board. I love bulletin boards because the possibilities are endless with colored construction paper: rocket ships or hot air balloons tracking reading, stoplights for discipline, star of the week, and the job chart with everything from line leader to door closer. All of these classroom wall installations are more than just decorative as they all are part of the classroom management set up. Just listing them makes me miss teaching, especially at this time of year. It is the beginning, it is the clean slate.

Starting the new school year involves much more than buying a new backpack or helping decorate a dorm room. It is our chance as students, parents and teachers to kick things off in the right direction. My advice may vary in application within the different stages of education, but whether it’s kindergarten or second year in college, there may be something you can glean for your situation. And if you are an empty nester or have nobody starting school, think of September as your fresh start (like it was when you were younger). 

 Ten Tips for September:

1. Get a new calendar. Plug in the dates. Hang it where everyone can see. Charting out the activities and upcoming meetings, holidays, and appointments will help you keep an eye on what is coming down the road. (It’s 112 days until Christmas, by the way).
2. Organize your “office space.” Backpacks, binders with dividers and labels, file folders, sticky notes…whatever your place of getting your work done is, this is where you need to begin September in a clean state (literally). An uncluttered mind can concentrate better.
3. Wash your car, inside and out. Nothing feels as refreshing as looking out a crystal clear clean front windshield, a dusted dashboard and center console and a vacuumed out car. It may not stay that way for long, but it is worth beginning the year in top condition. Habits start somewhere.
4. Examine the contents of your closet, rotate and replace as necessary. All summer long the wardrobe is shorts, tanks, tees, and swimsuits. This is when you rearrange your clothes, look over last year’s teacher skirts and assess whether they are still in style and then move them forward in the closet. Or in the case of growing children, you size up the pants. Outgrown? Hand-me-down for the younger brother. In any case, a little back to school shopping will be necessary to spruce up and feel fresh for the new school year. A word of caution is that the stores in August typically set out Fall colored and weighted clothes (far too heavy for hot September days). I remember the scratchy hot feeling of my sweater vest over my stiff button down and my brown corduroy pants. I couldn’t wait to strip them off after my first day of school when I got home.
5. Fill the refrigerator and pantry with good lunch-making, healthy dinner and after school snack ingredients. If really ambitious, plan the menu for the week (and post on your wall calendar). My sack lunch making days are long gone but that doesn’t stop me from stocking up on sandwich fixings, pretzels, and fruit. If you are heading to work, pack your lunch in a brown sack (and write yourself a note).
6. Open the lines of communication. If you are a parent, this could mean writing a letter to your child’s teacher, introducing yourself, a little bit about your family and your child. This could also be when you could volunteer your help and give them the best way to reach you, but it is mostly to just open the lines of communication. If you’re the student, strike up a conversation with your professor or ask your teacher something about her life (like her dog’s name or favorite college football team). If this September finds you nowhere near a classroom then make it a point to talk a little bit more to someone you cross paths with. Open the lines of communication.
7. Make some September “New Years Resolutions.” This piece of advice may turn some people away, as they do not make them in January so why would they in September? It is true that within two months of people setting their New Year’s resolutions many have returned to old habits. But why not take the time to examine some small changes that you can make which can add up to more success? James Clear, who wrote Atomic Habits, talks about micro-habits and habit stacking. I look at it like one positive little change can lead to more positive changes. (i.e. drink a full glass of water right after waking up or laying the clothes for the next day out the night before or not going to bed until the kitchen sink is clean). Set the desired habit change and go for it. What have you got to lose?
8. Honor the Sweet Summer weather before it turns to Fall. So often we find ourselves rushing to the next thing: Halloween decorations replace the school supplies midway through August, and Christmas commercials are already creeping in. After such hot steamy summer days we look forward to the relief that the cool breezes Autumn ushers in. Not so fast! It will be many months before the days of floating on the river or hiking in shorts return. So step outside in your flip flops, put your toes in the sand on a beach, and take in summer’s warmth.
9. Try something new. Or take an interest you have to a new level or a different setting. If you love football, go see a game at a venue you haven’t watched a game from (a sports bar or a new stadium). Join a club at school. Sign up for a class at the VMFA (in memoir writing, water color painting). Take up a new sport such as pickle ball or Bocce or horseback riding. Get out of your comfort zone. (See my post on the benefits of leaving the comfort zone). 
10. “Make new friends and keep the old (one is silver and the other’s gold).” As the song I learned in Brownies goes, make new friends and keep the old. September can be the start of many new things. One of those can be a friendship with someone you never knew as well or at all before. Think back to your years as a child, it was all about who you sat next to on the school bus, who was in your class all day, or whose locker was next to yours. Then it is through shared interests that we make new friends: sports teams, drama club, band, dorm halls, sorority sisters, coworkers, PTA and tennis teams. Think about nurturing friendships you already have, set the time to see those people. Make a new friend in one of your new settings.

SEPTEMBER is not just an amazing song by Earth Wind & Fire (my first concert ever, by the way). “Ba-dee-ya (dee-ya, dee-ya). Dancin’ in September. Ba-dee-ya (dee-ya, dee-ya).”

This is the month for new beginnings. No matter what age you are or what stage you are at in life, everyone can use a little reboot and reset. Happy September (or happy new year)!

See https://jamesclear.com/ for great advice on building healthy habits. I subscribe to his 3-2-1 Newsletter that always give me helpful information in bite size bits. I highly recommend.

To read my post on Leaving Your Comfort Zone, go to https://grizzlybearma.com/2023/01/23/when-is-the-last-time-you-left-your-comfort-zone/

What is coming down the road for grizzlybearma.com you ask? Exciting things! Our herd gained a new member, whose name is Sweetie Pie. More on her in the next post. In one month my son is getting married and I’ll have tips to share as the Mother of the Groom (a new perspective). The biggest new thing on the horizon (thank you September) is that I am adding onto the website. Soon you will be able to listen to blog posts. Soon you can throw on your headphones and take me with you on a walk or a short car ride. I am having a blast with my new microphone and headphones in my makeshift studio. Reminds me of the days when we used to record ourselves with a cassette tape recorder making up shows and commercials. It is a bit uncomfortable hearing my own voice, but I am enjoying adding the new dimension to the Grizzlybearma platform.

One way that you can help me is to subscribe and to share grizzlybearma.com with a friend. I welcome ideas and feedback! 

Happy September!