Like most parents, I want my kids toflourish academically and grow up to become great successes, but my parenting style is best described as lovingly lackadaisical. (Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother gave me nightmares; Confessions of a Slacker Mom made me think the author and I were separated at birth.) But this school year, my six-year-old daughter, Maia, will be in grade one and my seven-year-old son, Joseph, in grade two. They?ll both be in the ?big yard? at recess, with all the changing social dynamics that go along with that. They?ll both have homework. They?ll both be eating lunch in the cafeteria, with no motherly ?lunch lady? to make sure they eat their apple.
Meanwhile, I?ve been worrying about how to juggle the competing demands of motherhood and my career while maintaining my sanity and making sure no one gets scurvy. So I?ve come up with a comprehensive blueprint for this to be the best school year ever. This plan will likely not include hand-rolled sushi for lunch and cello recitals?but it just might mean combed hair and brushed teeth every morning, and a happier, more organized family in general. Here?s the plan, starting today: Summer brain gain

I?m never sure if I should be pushing the books on my kids throughout the summer to prep them for the school year ahead. According to Susen Anderson, a former elementary school teacher in Oakville, Ont., and mom of four, ideally, you should try to get in some reading, writing and arithmetic during the summer months, ...