It's the second week of September and everyone's on track, right? If not, start breathing deeply. Researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health have found that breathing slowly for a few minutes each day can reduce blood pressure. Think about taking a meditation or yoga class. "Or try a new activity – anything that makes you feel different or better offers stress relief," says McQuarrie. She did: At age 35, she took up competitive adult figure skating. Now 51, she recently placed seventh in the national adult figure-skating championships.
What? Throw a party?
Kick off the year in a positive way by hosting a simple get-together. Do it early in the month, for example, after work on the first Friday back, so you can meet other parents with kids and exchange phone numbers for playdates and backup child care. Derickx invites her daughters' classmates for a S'mores the Merrier start-of-school do. "It's easy and a good opportunity for everyone to get to know each other," she says.
There's an App for that?
A little tech support, such as the Class Calendar App for iPhone, a smartphone application that customizes reminders about classes and assignment deadlines, can help you to coordinate things such as calendars and shared parenting. Blackberry's calendar application can interface with your desktop agenda, making scheduling a snap. And many school boards offer downloadable calendars.
You can also set up Microsoft Excel spreadsheets on a shared network drive that your kids can update. And, as holidays draw to a close, prepare for getting back to work by scanning your email. "You want it to be gradual," says Joyce Odidison, a life coach in Winnipeg. "Rather than responding to email in the evening, do it in the morning. Just don't overdo it and make it so annoying that your family wishes you'd go back to work."
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