Navigating the New School Year with Self-Care

Balancing the demands of back-to-school season can be overwhelming, especially if you’re a parent managing psoriasis. Read on for some practical tips to help you navigate the chaos while prioritizing your self-care.

Ready or not, back-to-school season is here! If you’re a parent living with a chronic condition, like psoriasis (PsO) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA), it can be hard to keep up with the hustle and bustle that comes with this time of year.

Back-to-school season is an important time for school-aged children, but it undeniably adds to every parent’s plate. And when you’re living with a chronic condition, there may not be much room left!

Nevertheless, it’s so important to save space for self-care and your health needs despite these seemingly chaotic times. Here are some tips to help reduce stress and improve your well-being as you balance your condition and the demands of the busy back-to-school time of year.

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Be ready for emergencies

Stress is a major contributor to the development and worsening of PsO. When you stress and worry less overall, it’s easier to manage your PsO and PsA symptoms. Although it’s impossible not to worry about your children, being prepared for emergencies can help.

For example, be sure that your younger children know their own full names, their parents’ full names, their parents’ phone numbers, and their home address(es). If they’re too young to memorize this, be sure to write it somewhere they can easily find it.

Identifying plans for emergencies is a good way to feel more at ease about your children’s safety, which will help manage your own stress in turn.

Independence is key

Bedtime routines are so important for children, especially on school nights. In my experience, encouraging independent bedtime routines helps protect the self-care time that I need right before bed.

I find it helpful to teach my children to brush their teeth, take a bath, read a book, etc., on their own. If they want to say goodnight, I put a time limit on it for 5 to 10 minutes. I’m sure to communicate clearly that my bedtime routine as a parent is important, too. I remind them that taking care of myself makes me a better parent for the days to come.

Making breakfast easy and convenient for your kids can give you some time back for yourself, too. This can be as simple as string cheese, a prepackaged bar, a preportioned cereal or oatmeal cup, or something you have prepared that’s easy to reheat and eat.

Relieve yourself of the guilt

Remove the pressure on yourself to “do it all.” When you live with a chronic condition like PsO and PsA, you simply can’t do it all, as you have other things to balance that are necessary for your health. Don’t forget that even parents without PsO or PsA can’t “do it all” either.

Teaching your children independence is a skill that will only benefit them in the future. Instead of allowing feelings of guilt, remind yourself that you’re raising competent, skilled adults who can survive in the world!

Prepare ahead

Avoid waiting until the morning to do homework, pack bags, pick clothes, decide what’s for breakfast, or find the dreaded (and oh-so random) spirit-day item.

Try to plan out as much as possible for the week on Sunday nights, and then do the majority of it (or as much as you can) the evening before. Chaos in the morning can be stressful, which can worsen psoriasis flares.

Organize your schedules

Do your best to keep your family’s schedules organized and up to date. With today’s lifestyles, everyone is busy! It’s easy to make a mistake and double-book yourself, causing you to miss an important medical appointment or spread yourself too thin, which can lead to fatigue and possibly a flare of your psoriasis.

The sooner you put dates in the schedule for everyone to see, the less likely there will be a schedule conflict. Be sure to include the usual routine schedules (e.g. work, school hours, church) and the medical appointments, sporting events, school holidays, and other school events.

This will help make sure that you don’t miss any important medical appointments and that you can still maintain order in your adult life, while being the best parent possible.

Prioritize your medical appointments

Do your best to schedule your medical appointments on days without known conflicts. Consider picking a day and time range that you can block out every week for medical appointments, and stick with this schedule when possible. For example, every Wednesday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. can be dedicated to your medical appointments.

If you have less frequent appointments, you can block these accordingly. By doing this, you can have rides, child care, meals, etc. already arranged, freeing up your time to take care of you and your health.

Don’t forget that this medical time doesn’t have to only be for appointments. This can be for lab draws, picking up prescriptions, making phone calls, scheduling additional appointments, and making other medical-related arrangements.

Schedule your children’s medical appointments, too! It’s likely your children will need well-checks, vaccines, or sports physicals for the school year. Schedule these early to avoid delays and long wait times.

Back-to-school shopping

Back-to-school shopping can drain your energy quickly, causing fatigue and possibly a flare of your PsO. Typically, back-to-school shopping can be divided into clothing and supplies.

Clothes

Although going into a brick-and-mortar store may be unavoidable, try to save some energy by looking online with your children first. This way, they can at least narrow down what they want to look at or try on before going to the store. Many stores offer free shipping now, too, which is very convenient.

If your child has a school dress code, bring a copy of the rules with you to avoid any unnecessary disagreements, which can deplete your energy levels unnecessarily.

Supplies

Again, try to get these online, but if you must go into a brick-and-mortar store, stick to your list. If you have multiple children, combine the lists before shopping to stay organized and save energy.

Practice getting to school and getting around

Whether your children walk, bike, bus, or get dropped off to get to school, it’s always a good idea to have them practice. Practice the route with your kids, the way they’re going to do it on school days, before the first day of school.

If they’re comfortable with the commute, that’s one less thing to worry about and will make the first week back to school much smoother.

If available, take a tour of the school before the first day to find out where everything is. If there’s a map available, you can provide this to your children.

Check your technology

Check all of the technology in your household and confirm that it’s what your children need for the new school year. Buying new electronics at the last minute can be expensive and stressful. Rushing these decisions can cause you to make less ideal decisions, too.

Additionally, no one wants to be up all night the day before the electronics are needed, trying to install a program or connect a printer. The stress of this might send your PsO or PsA into a flare, and taking some extra time before school starts can really help.

If you have plaque PsO on your hands and wrists or pain in your hands and wrists from PsA, you might want to consider investing in adaptive equipment to help prevent friction and strain.

Many of these tips for managing an adult’s workspace with PsA can apply to your children’s workspace, too, after all, you’ll likely spend a lot of hours sitting there with them.

Make friends with neighbors

Consider introducing yourself to parents of other children who live near you. It’s helpful to have carpool options, and it’s nice to know other children your kids can walk or bike with each day.

Plus, if you’re living with a chronic condition, you know things pop up out of nowhere, and you may need extra help sometimes. It’s much easier to ask someone to help with rides when they’re already going to the same place! Don’t forget to say thank you and offer extra help on your good days.

The bottom line

When it comes to back-to-school success, prepare ahead, stay organized, and prioritize your health. A healthy, flare-free parent is the best parent!