First-Time Middle School Parent – Seeking Survival Tips

[Anonymous]

Lunch gets made at night. I made DD make it herself. I got the Tupperware-like containers with separators she she has a main (sandwich or leftovers), fruit and veggie plus a snack like chips. Breakfast is either toast with cheese, oatmeal with banana or a bagel with fruit.
My kid has practice st the same time. Dinner is at 6pm, small snack after practice, quick practice and bed.
Start by getting up earlier than you think is necessary- you can always start later if you find you have time to kill.

[Anonymous]

A lot of kids get cell phones in middle school if they don’t already have them.

My tip is to NOT allow their cell phones in their room at night. They’ll claim they need it for music/white noise/alarm, but get separate devices for that. Kids with phones in their rooms get less sleep and they really REALLY need that sleep. A lot of parents I know say “oh my kids have them but they’re sleeping: they’re not ON the phones late” but those same kids are sending texts to my kids’ phone at crazy hours.

Also set major limits with social media if you allow it at all.

Be strict with screens. It’s worth it.

[Anonymous]

Tuk24 wrote:Hi everyone,
I’m a first-time middle school mama — my son is starting 7th grade, and I’m getting a little nervous as the first day gets closer. His bus arrives at 6:50 AM, and we are not early risers! 😅 On top of that, he has soccer practice from 7–8:30 PM twice a week.

I’d love to hear how you all manage early school schedules along with after-school sports. Any tips for smoother mornings or evening routines? Also, I’m looking for easy and healthy breakfast and lunch ideas — suggestions are very welcome!

Thanks in advance!

One kid? Soccer twice a week? Is this post a joke?

[Tuk24]

I have two kids who do eight activities a week. If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine—these days, people think they can write whatever they want anyway.

I truly appreciate those who took the time to respond. It’s just first-timer anxiety—we’ll be okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:7th grade? Where is this? Around here MS starts in 6th grade. Makes a big difference.

Okay that's nice, but a lot of public school districts keep 6th with the elementary grades. And those kids will not experience middle school until 7th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:7th grade? Where is this? Around here MS starts in 6th grade. Makes a big difference.

Okay that's nice, but a lot of public school districts keep 6th with the elementary grades. And those kids will not experience middle school until 7th grade.

That's a good thing.

[Anonymous]

MS was 6th - 8th in our district.

As a rising 6th grade parent, I scheduled a very long meeting with the school counselor during summer break. I took my kid to the meeting and I basically asked for -
- 3 years of schedule - what would be taught when.
- Marked out which subjects would be considered HS credits.
- Timeline for any tests or exams that would be administered - MAPs , HSAs etc.
- All the options for electives and various permutation and combinations of subjects and how they would impact HS course selection.
- All low hanging fruits for MS.

I then put everything in a spreadsheet.

- I made sure that I had put my kids in varioys kinds of enrichment, EC activities before MS started.
- Made my kids take all the available ECs in after-school clubs
- Made sure that my kids started doing scholastic tournaments
- Made sure that my kids started amassing the SSL hours, also organizing community volunteer activities to enable other kids to get their community hours.
- Made sure that I dropped and picked up my kids (and often times their friends) by car. It allowed me to become friends with the parents of these children and eventually I was able to coach some STEM programs for these kids and take part in STEM competitions as a group.
- I packed two snacks - one for lunch and one for after school clubs.
- Kids showered at night. clothes were laid out at night, all assignments were completed and bags were ready at night.
- I was a volunteer at the school. I was very clued in about what was happening in the school.

[Anonymous]

- All flu vaccines for the entire family done by August. 2 weeks before school opens. It messes up your kid's academics
to fall sick in the first quarter.=
- Zinc tabs, airborne tabs, occilococinum tabs, germex and face masks. Kleenex with lotion.
- All physicals finished before school (Birthdays are in August thankfully)
- All dental cleaning, eye exams, derm appointment finished
- Two of everything that my kid could lose and marked them very well - 2 lunch boxes, 2 sets of outerwear, 2 bookbags, 2 sneakers etc.
- Asked for and got the syllabus from the district before school started.
- Bought all the textbooks for all the subjects second hand in Amazon. Even if I did not know exactly which text books were being used. I went by the topics in the syllabus.
- Also bought second hand - all the summer reading list books. Used other schools websites to get multiple lists. Made sure kid read many of these books.
- Hired tutors and made sure that my kids were ahead by at least a quarter in some key subjects.
- At least two weeks of vacation abroad.
- Life skills - some chores and some cooking lessons.

[Anonymous]

The top things to learn in middle school are organization skills and study habits. Focus on developing those in your kid over the next couple of years.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, it’s no big deal. Get him a small alarm clock for his room. Talk about what a good time would set it would be to be out the door on time.

Wake up before him and have breakfast ready and his lunch packed and ready to go when he comes down. I realize not all parents can or want to do that- but it makes mornings so smooth.

As for afternoons, have dinner ready early as possible to manage various kids and afternoon activities. Cook in large quantities so they can leftovers for lunch the next day or to eat again for dinner (or at least components that can be used and turned quickly into another meal).

Figure out what he can take to school. Our middle school doesn’t allow them to carry backpacks during the day, they must keep them in locker, but they don’t have time to go to lockers. Most kids carry one of those Case-It binders. Getting a case/sleeve for Chromebook is good idea too (if they can’t carry a backpack).

[Anonymous]

Digitally lock or physically take his cell phone by 10pm every night, and be strong in the face of any pushback.

Continue to verify homework and test preparedness ("it says here you have a history test tomorrow. Let me see your study guide so I can ask a couple of questions.") Again, be strong in the face of pushback.

Stop buying sweetened drinks.

Teach him to bring his dishes to the dishwasher, from his room or the dining table.

Teach him to bring his dirty laundry to the washer, from his room or his sports bag.

Remember he will be miserable in his adult home life if he expects women to do all domestic adulting for him.

[Anonymous]

Tuk24 wrote:I have two kids who do eight activities a week. If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine—these days, people think they can write whatever they want anyway.

I truly appreciate those who took the time to respond. It’s just first-timer anxiety—we’ll be okay.

That’s crazy. Way too over scheduled.

[Anonymous]

That's ridiculous that school starts that early

[Anonymous]

Sleep early. Unschedule a few activities to prioritize sleep. Your kid and their body will thank you later

[Anonymous]

Prioritizing sleep makes the middle school years easier, especially when they go through puberty. We cut back on weekend enrichments and it was a game changer. Organization skills and establishing good study habits are key as well. Preparing the evening before also helps tremendously. Good luck!