If August feels more like survival mode than a fresh start, you're not alone.
In this honest and actionable episode of The New Modern Mom Podcast: Toolkit Series, host Barbara Mighdoll reflects on the logistical chaos that caught her off guard last year: forgotten forms, last-minute lunch packing, zero time for herself, and a mental load that felt completely unmanageable. This year, she’s doing things differently, and she’s sharing the exact five steps she’s putting into practice now to bring more ease, structure, and breathing room into her family’s back-to-school routine.
This isn’t about complicated systems or Pinterest-perfect checklists. It’s about real tools for real working moms, tools that help you feel prepared instead of scrambling.
Inside this episode, you’ll learn:
📘 A therapist-backed Social Story method that helps ease your child’s back-to-school jitters (and helps you avoid daily drop-off drama)
⏰ Why test-driving your morning routine now, before school starts, can make a huge difference (yes, even if your schedule’s still all over the place)
🎒 How to get your kid involved in school prep in simple, meaningful ways that don’t just add to your to-do list
📋 A night-before checklist that keeps mornings from imploding (plus the visual trick that keeps the whole house on track)
📆 A ChatGPT calendar hack that adds every school holiday and early release to your calendar automatically (because no one has time to do that manually)
Whether you're navigating the first year of kindergarten or juggling multiple school drop-offs, this episode is filled with practical tips for working moms who want to start the school year feeling calm, confident, and a little more in control.
Perfect for moms searching for:
→ Back to school tips for working moms
→ School morning routine hacks
→ How to prep kids for kindergarten
→ ChatGPT for busy moms
→ Family organization tools
→ Managing the mental load as a parent
Listen now and walk away with a few small shifts that’ll make a big difference.
🧠 How to use “Social Stories” to reduce your child’s back-to-school anxiety
Helping kids manage the emotional side of transitions is just as important as organizing logistics. I share how I use “social stories,” a method often used in occupational therapy, to help my son visualize and emotionally prepare for starting kindergarten. I even provide a ChatGPT prompt to help parents create their own version.
“So I learned about this strategy that's often used in occupational therapy called Social Stories for Children that really help them understand and be able to acknowledge what is occurring in their life. We saw firsthand how social stories really can help with transitions to new environments… I’m going to create the story, we’re going to read it together nightly every day up until school. And then honestly, I’ll probably keep reading it the first two weeks of school as well.” -Barbara Mighdoll
⏰ Why practicing your ideal morning routine before school starts sets you up for success
Rather than waiting for the back-to-school chaos to kick in, I am proactively living my ideal morning routine now. I map out every detail—down to 10-minute increments—and get my husband aligned to make sure mornings flow without stress or surprises.
“Literally yesterday I sat down and did a work back schedule of what my morning needs to look like in 10 minute increments… I talked it through with my husband and we do split shifts in the morning. So I outlined every single thing he needs to do before I start my shift so that we won’t be late for school. And now I’m going to be living that morning routine, waking up at 6:15 AM, for the next two weeks before the first day of school arrives.” -Barbara Mighdoll
🎒 Creative ways to get your kids involved and excited about school prep
I emphasize the power of ownership. Giving kids small choices—like designing their own labels or picking out a lunchbox—can completely reframe the experience from scary to exciting. Even helping them make introductions to new classmates can go a long way.
“I involve them in picking out their backpacks and lunchboxes, and I let them even pick out and design their little labels from Amazon. One other thing that we’re trying out this year… is I let him pick out tiny little trinkets that he can give out to all of his new classmates. By getting your kid in on the action, it really does help turn nervous anticipation into positive ownership.” – Barbara Mighdoll
📋 The nightly checklist that eliminates decision fatigue and mental load
The mental toll of remembering everything for school mornings can be heavy, so I offload it. I created a printed, visible checklist that becomes the new system for her entire household, reducing stress and setting the whole family up for success.
“Just like my morning routine, I’m getting very clear on exactly what I want to happen every night before going to bed… I’m going to write down, I’m going to print it out and hang it up in my kitchen so it serves as that nightly reminder that everything is done and removes the mental load of me trying to remember. It’s just going to be right in our face.” – Barbara Mighdoll
📆 A ChatGPT hack that turns your school calendar into a digital masterpiece
Manually adding every early release, break, and holiday to your calendar? Not anymore. I explain how I use ChatGPT to do the work for me, saving time and ensuring nothing gets missed throughout the year.
“I use ChatGPT as a hack to speed up this process. I do not manually enter dates. I use ChatGPT to read the school calendar, create a file, and upload it into my calendar. Within two minutes my calendar is ready to go for the school year.” – Barbara Mighdoll
Listen to the Episode
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[00:00:00] Hi everyone, welcome to the toolkit series from the new Modern Mom podcast. I'm thrilled to bring you this bonus series in between seasons. Each episode will be a quick, actionable deep dive into some of the most important themes from season one. [00:00:13] Plus some new topics that are very top of mind for me, and I assume you too. My goal is to help you build the tools you need so they're ready and waiting in your toolkit, the ones you're going to reach for to calm the chaos of career and motherhood. [00:00:28] Today's episode is for any parent who is embarking on the chaotic season of back to School time. Hands down, I think May and August are the hardest months of the year. The mental load, the logistics, the. Emotions. It's a lot. This year I'm taking what I learned from going through this process for the first time last year, not so gracefully I might add with my oldest starting school. [00:00:55] and I'm getting ahead of it. In this episode, I'm sharing the five things that I'm [00:01:00] focusing on right now to ensure I have a smoother, calmer back to school transition for both me and my kids. [00:01:07] These are practical, doable actions that make a huge difference. And I promise they're all things. You can start this week. Let's get into it. The first thing I'm doing is creating a social story for my soon to be kindergartner. this was something new to me that I learned this past year. [00:01:25] So I learned about this strategy that's often used in occupational therapy called Social Stories for Children that really help them. Understand and be able to acknowledge what is occurring in their life, And we saw firsthand how social stories really can help with transitions to new environments. When I started using one this year to. Help my son transition to his new camp in France. So of course I'm going to be doing the same thing for his transition to kindergarten this year. [00:02:00] So the first day of kindergarten is a huge milestone and it can bring up a lot of anxiety for both your child and you. [00:02:07] And by helping my son visualize what this day is going to look like step by step, it's going to make this whole experience feel way more familiar and less intimidating. So I'm gonna create the story. We're going to read it together nightly every day up until school. [00:02:22] And then honestly, I'll probably keep reading it the first two weeks of school as well. And it is just going to calm the both of us. I'm going to be getting much deeper into how exactly you can use chat GPT to create a social story for your child at the end of this episode. [00:02:39] The second thing I'm doing is I'm going to start living my ideal morning routine now before school starts. If I want a calm, efficient morning, I know I have to practice that and create those habits now before we're in the thick of it and I actually started practicing what I'm kind of calling my [00:03:00] early riser club. [00:03:01] Waking up early. Having a solid morning routine is not a new concept for me. It's something I have been wanting for a very long time, and I actually kicked off a challenge in June and had over 70 people join me in trying to not snooze our morning alarm so that we can actually fit in our morning routine the way that we want. [00:03:22] And if you two are. Wanting to create better morning habits and really shift your identity into becoming a morning person. I invite you to join me for my August early. Riser Club Challenge on Instagram and I will link, in the show notes how you can join us It's just an accountability group. It's free, and we're sharing our own personal stories, tactics and advice on what's working for us in our lives. So I want to also emphasize it's not just saying what time do I need to wake up in the morning? It's mapping out [00:04:00] exactly every increment of your morning and what it needs to look like. [00:04:03] So literally yesterday I sat down and did a work back schedule of what my morning needs to look like in 10 minute increments. I wrote down exactly what I needed to do in the mornings. What time was needed to do them, whether that was how long it takes me to wake up and get out of bed, how long I need to get ready, how many minutes I wanna dedicate to working out how many minutes I need to do those last minute things to get myself out of the house, like make coffee. [00:04:30] Then I talked it through with my husband and we do split shifts in the morning. So I outlined every single thing he needs to do before I start my shift so that we won't be late for school. And now I'm going to be living that morning routine, waking up at 6:15 AM which is my morning wake up time for the next two weeks before the first day of school arrives. [00:04:52] The third thing I'm doing is getting my kids bought in on the back to school prep. Kids wanna feel in control, [00:05:00] so I involve them in picking out their backpacks and lunchboxes, and I let them even pick out and design their little labels from Amazon. Even letting them choose something small that's part of their everyday routine is going to make them feel excited and bought into the process. [00:05:15] One other thing that we're trying out this year, because it's a brand new school with brand new sets of friends, is I let him pick out tiny little trinkets that he can give out to all of his new classmates for him to introduce himself and ask what their name is By getting your kid in on the action, it really does help turn nervous anticipation into positive ownership. The fourth thing I'm doing is making a nightly checklist. Just like my morning routine, I'm getting very clear on exactly what I want to happen every night before going to bed lunch packed backpacks have full water bottles. [00:05:51] Extra change of clothes is in the backpack, setting up my coffee maker, picking out what my kids will be wearing, all of that I'm going to write down. I'm going to print it [00:06:00] out and hang it up in my kitchen. So it serves as that nightly reminder that everything is done and removes the mental load of me trying to remember, or trying to assign or ask my husband to do certain things. [00:06:11] It's just going to be right in our face. And this last. Fifth item that I'm doing now, I am getting every school date on my calendar. One of the simplest things you can do that has the biggest impact on the year is adding every single school holiday break or early release before school even starts. This allows you to get a head start on childcare coverage. [00:06:35] Get a head start on putting on your calendar what date. Camps open up for registration ahead of a fall break or winter break or a spring break, and even lets you get ahead of starting to think through those more fun experiences of the year, like when you may wanna go on spring break and where you wanna go and when you need to start booking. [00:06:54] By doing this, you will not be caught off guard or scrambling for coverage and. I mentioned this is [00:07:00] going to blow your mind. I use chat GBT as a hack to speed up this process. I do not manually enter dates. I use chat GBT to read the school calendar, create a file, and upload it into my calendar. [00:07:14] With two minutes my calendar is ready to go for the school year, I will link in the show notes the exact step by step on how you can do this too Okay. Okay, So what is a tool you can safely put away in your toolkit from this episode? There are so many actionable takeaways here, but what I'd really love to break down more for you is the creation of a social story, because it's helped our family so, so, so much. [00:07:39] here's exactly how you can make a social story in cha Bt, [00:07:43] you are going to give this prompt. Write a short story for a five-year-old starting kindergarten at the school name in the city, of course, for your child. Alter it for a four-year-old starting TK at the school name in your city. Next line of the prompt. Its purpose is to [00:08:00] make the child feel comfortable and feel safe. [00:08:03] Saying goodbye to mom and dad. At school in the morning. It also should provide guidance and confidence about making new friends. Include details like waking up, getting dressed, packing lunch, brushing teeth, drop off, classroom activities, meeting the teacher, recess, lunchtime, story time. Pick up what will happen after pickup, what happens for dinner time? [00:08:27] What happens at bedtime? This is where you should include certain details. Like if you take a bath every night, if there's a special stuffy that you lay in bed with, those personal details make a huge difference. The next line of this prompt should say the tone should be friendly, reassuring, and for the comprehension level of a X year old, 5-year-old in my instance. [00:08:49] Then you wanna provide instructions to customize the story, so provide details that you have. What's your child's name, any sibling names, any known details about the school, like [00:09:00] their teacher's name, the school mascot, the classroom number, maybe a favorite snack or favorite lunch item. [00:09:07] You are gonna read what Chacha BT gives you, and then you're going to tweak the story to be completely accurate. If something was off, Next, you are going to pull pictures of the school building, maybe the classroom if you have it, the playground if you have it, their backpack. [00:09:22] Photos of you and them, maybe a photo of their nanny. If they have a nanny picking them up from school, then you're going to hop into Canva or Google Slides. White backdrop, extremely simple. You're going to copy and paste page by page, that story, and add one photo to each page. Then you wanna print it. [00:09:41] Then staple it together. Or if you wanna get real fancy, you can print it at FedEx and bind the book and then you are going to read it every single night. There are a ton of other use cases for social stories. Bedtime routines. If you have a child that is very resistant to going to bed, maybe the [00:10:00] first dentist appointment or doctor visit, welcoming a new sibling, starting a new sport, traveling somewhere, or maybe staying or visiting family and friends, [00:10:09] I highly encourage you to lean in to the strategy to see if it works for your child. And that my friends, is it. If you're feeling overwhelmed, just take one small step. Today. Things will get forgotten this month. Your routines won't go perfectly despite the planning, but know you are doing a great job and every other mom is feeling it too. [00:10:29] All right. Thanks for tuning in to this toolkit series on the new Modern Mom podcast. I hope today's tips help simplify the chaos of career in motherhood one tool at a time. If you found this episode helpful, don't forget to subscribe. Give a five star rating and leave a review. My dms are open. I'd love to know if you created a social story or if you tried my calendar. [00:10:51] Hack with chat, GPT. You can always connect with me on Instagram and subscribe to my newsletter for more in-depth stories, systems, and shares of what's top [00:11:00] of mind for me, your support means so much as I continue my mission to help more moms find work life fulfillment. Until next time, I. [00:11:07]Author
