As if one backpack wasn’t crazy enough, the Backpack bloggers now have a second backpack to give away on Just Precious! This time, we’re going to make the contest a bit lighter and brighter, just like Just Precious!

Have you heard about the contents of the Back to School Backpack? Its seriously overflowing. I mean, there’s just no way that the pack could fit all of the items we’re giving away.

So, what’s inside?

Fill the Backpack Contents

(note that the winner will receive just one of each of the items pictured, and either the Leap Frog Tag system OR the Leap Frog Explorer system.)

As a parent and former teacher, I was shocked this year by how anxious I was about Big entering first grade at a new school. Between meeting new friends (both him and me), a new teacher, and new expectations where no one knew him, it was scary!

Fortunately, this is Big’s 3rd day of school and he’s happy. His 1st grade teacher is wonderful and he’s making friends all the time. I loved how happy he was yesterday afternoon when he got off the bus. Its an amazing lift, seeing your child smile like that.

Middle started school yesterday and he was a bit more apprehensive. But once we were inside the classroom today, he was so excited to show me all the parts of the room that he learned the day before. Plus, there’s a Hamster in his Pre-K class, which will, hopefully, always be a draw for him.

And, amazingly, Little begins “school” tomorrow. We signed up for a Mommy and Me at our preschool and I’m so excited for her to interact with the other one-year-olds.

Having three kids in school is a big deal, you know? There is so  much to do and so much to organize and keep straight. I’m finding that switching to my phone calendar app hasn’t worked well for me because I really need to have it all mapped out in front of me. So, I’m switching back to a datebook calendar. Have you checked out the planner by Orange Circle Studio? There’s one in the backpack! Its ideal because it has a spot for 4 family members so you can keep everything separate.

This year, our preschool is hosting a learning series for parents. We’ll start with a wine and cheese and then one (or a few) of our parents will lead a workshop to introduce a hobby or skill that parents want to learn. Its a community building/fundraising project and I just can’t wait for our first evening. Our topic will be Back-to-School Organization, led by a parent who is a Professional Organizer. For all of my ideas that I’ve had and shared about getting organized in the past, I really need a workshop on this right now.

Since I have to wait 3 weeks until the workshop, I need to hear your tips and ideas right now. Do you have good products to suggest? Secrets that really need to be shared? What do you do to help your family stay organized? Share your ideas and you could win a Back to School Backpack!

Enter to win this fabulous backpack which has now been over-filled with goodies! To enter:

• Comment to this post, telling a back-to-school organization tip
• on twitter? retweet this post using the green retweet button below. I’ll receive notice that you retweeted, please do not reply about it here.

Want another chance to win? You can enter on the blogs of other Backpack Bloggers, too.

The winning entry will be selected via the contest commenter plugin for wordpress. Winners must be residents of the United States to win and will be contacted at the close of this contest, on September 9 at midnight EST. Winner will have 24 hours to reply to the e-mail announcing her win. If she does not respond within 24 hours, an alternate winner will be chosen.

I have to tell you, when I asked everyone to share their wimpy kid stories, I had no idea how depressing it would be. I thought, hey, the movie was cute, so this will be a very fun way to look back and laugh at ourselves and our youth. I hope that many of us were able.

But I can’t tell you the number of times that rocks in my stomach crashed and jerked. All the comments come through on e-mail for me so that I can approve them before posting them to my site. So for the past week I’ve been receiving e-mail after e-mail about people getting beaten up in bathrooms and after lunches, about moms forcing hair dos that embarrass kids, about teachers (albeit innocently) making comments that get kids laughed at, about nicknames and being singled out and being different. I read a comment from an 83 year old woman. 83 years old, and my giveaway made her dig up bad memories.

It hurts. I cried reading your comments. My eyes welled up several times and I found myself shaking my head time and again. Kids hurt. Kids are mean. And kids are sensitive, too.

And we’re sensitive. And we can’t forget that.

Bullying exists. It always will. As much as parents and schools and communities try to run programs to advise against it, you know what? Its still going to exist.  I’m not condoning it. But I certainly understand its out there and that, as a parent, its my responsibility to teach my kids how to handle it. How to politely excuse themselves from tough situations. And I want them to know that they should come to my husband and me to tell me about problems. I need them to feel comfortable enough. For them to know that, no matter what, I’ll listen and not judge. I’ll offer advice if they want it and I’ll help when they need it.

Parents, we should know that there are organizations available to help in cases of bullying. There are several bullying websites such as National Center for Bullying Prevention and Stop Bullying World Home. This article, Bullying throughout the Life Cycle, is a fantastic read for someone wanting to know the how’s, why’s and responses in the most basic of terms.

This weekend I was sharing my feelings about the comments I was reading with some friends. Melissa reminded me that her daughter was bullied last year on the bus. Bad. An older girl was really, really mean to Ellie, and Ellie was only in 1st grade. Melissa acted on it, contacted the principal and teacher and the principal was on top of it immediately. As she should be.

Beautifully, Ellie found the good in the girl.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry to all of you who dug down to enter a giveaway contest and brought back unwanted emotions. I feel absolutely terrible for that. I do hope that some of you were able to laugh. And that others took those emotions and grew from them.

Most important, I hope that you were able to look at your own children, or grandchildren, and tell them the story. Not to embarrass yourself. But to let them know that you’ve been there. And should they need it, you want to help them.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bully Proofing Kids is High Priorty for Back to School! (teachstreet.com)
• Dealing With School Bullies (homesecuritysource.com)

When you applied for your first job or to college, it was simple. Type answers to simple questions on a typewriter, into the photocopied application. Pay for your scores to be sent to the college. Request letters of reference and recommendations sent with your application. Hand it in.

The Admissions officer’s or prospective employer’s job was a bit more difficult. He had to assess the answers you offered, read your essay, judge your letters of recommendation. Perhaps call your references. He had to do all of that before a decision was made.

Now? Now its much more simple. Now the first step to analyzing an application doesn’t include any reading or any phone calls. Now it includes a simple search. Googling an applicant’s name.

Try it. Google your own name. Google your son’s name. Study it. What do those first 10 listings represent? Your home page. Truly. A search on Google is now a person’s home page on the web.

Do you see a Facebook link? MySpace? An article from the local paper about last week’s inspirational touchdown your son scored? This is the same thing the admissions counselor or employer sees when he Googles your child’s name.

Can you click through and view the listing? Is the Facebook page hidden with privacy settings or open for viewers? Can you read your child’s status updates? So can the other readers. And would your child accept a stranger as a friend? Mine would.

Parents, please. Take the time to check what your child is sharing with the public. Express your concerns over not only his status on twitter last night, but over the responses his friend had. Explain that what is out in cyber space stays in cyber space.  It doesn’t go away. Its there. Forever. Modern technology has created biographies and memoirs of everyone. It allows for information sharing just was well as information availability. No one is a closed book anymore. We’re all searchable.

And that mistake your daughter made? The one she shared with her 287 best friends on Facebook? That mistake isn’t going anywhere. Its still listed in her twitter stream and can be read in her blog. She’s sharing herself with anyone who wants to listen.

There’s no taking back the mistake of forgetting to brush your teeth. And there’s no way to erase a defamatory comment about a peer. Its there. Its there to stay. You can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube. And you can’t erase the information you shared late last Thursday night in an online forum.

Parents, sit down with your children. Lead them in learning that there are consequences to all actions. Privacy is a privilege to be grasped and contained.

It was a busy weekend at the Precious household. Not one, but two birthdays. Big turned 7; Middle, 5. But on the morning of their birthdays, they couldn’t actually announce they were 7 or 5 until after they bathed. Because they need to wash off the previous year.

I started the tradition two years ago, when Big had had a really late night the night before his birthday and didn’t bathe before bed. He woke the next morning excited to announce he was 5. And I knew that nothing would get him to shower. Except…

“you’re not 5!” I said. “Not yet! You need to wash off the 4s first.”

Being 5, he totally fell for it. So, the next day, I did the same for Middle. He had to wash off the 2s.

This weekend, it took a little longer for Big to shower. You can tell he’s getting older: he told me he could wait to wash off the sixes because it was, afterall, still his birthday.

Middle, on the other hand, came in my room early and asked “isn’t there something you need to tell me, mom?”

I gave him a huge hug, “of course there is! Happy birthday, my big, sweet 5 year old!”

“No!! You’re supposed to tell me to get in the bathtub!! I’m not really 5 yet!”

I love my guys. And I love that my little cleansing works for them.

Its the first day of school, and I was reminded today of a conversation I overheard a year ago. A mom, met her child’s teacher before her child did.

“Oh! You have my son in your class this fall? Oh. We’ll talk. There’s a lot you need to know.”

Why? Why why why must parents do this? To their children and to their teachers? Do they not trust the teachers enough to bring their own experience to the classroom and to let it lead them in how they’ll approach their teaching?

Parents. Please. Let your child go to school as innocently. Your child may be totally different in school than he is at home. Or his chemistry with this year’s teacher and class will be different. Or maybe he just grew up this summer. No matter what. Whether he has the same mannerisms as you know or different ones, the teacher will let you know if there’s a concern. That’s a part of her job.

Parents, give your child a hug and let your child go today. Let him or her be himself and let the teacher and the classmates meet your child as he wants to be met. Please don’t taint your teachers with warnings and expectations.

Teachers are good people. They nurture. They know. They expect to learn about all the children in their class in the next few weeks. I promise, they’ll call or write if they have questions.

Note: this is not to say that parents of children with special needs should not address any outstanding issues with their teacher ahead of time. Its the little things like “Joey talks out of turn” or “Samantha and Riley really don’t like each other. They shouldn’t sit next to each other” that don’t need to be said to the teacher. Believe me. She knows.

There’s something about getting all dolled up and having some place to go that makes for an extra special time. And when you do it with friends? Even better?

During Blogher this summer, I attended a beautifying extravaganza, courtesy of Audrey McClelland and Vera Sweeney and their company, Getting Gorgeous Events.

The minute Shannon, Amy and I entered, we were welcomed with energy and excitement. We started off stripping right down (hey, we’ve had babies, we’re not modest!) and trying out the new Miracle Body (they didn’t have my size, but I should be getting a pair soon). And then continued through checking out the amazing (I mean it, a.m.a.z.i.n.g.) Swash–a spray-on product that gets rid of wrinkles in seconds. (I’m telling you, order this product! Buy it! Buy it! Buy it!). [Note: As my mom pointed out in the comments section, this product, made by Tide, is for getting wrinkles out of clothing, not skin.] I also met representatives from Lia Sophia (and was given a stunning bracelet), Kmart Design, Hanes and Skechers.

Following, we chatted it up with Audrey’s beautiful and inspiring mom (she had just qualified to run in an international race!) Then entered what I have dubbed the makeover room. It wasn’t just make-overs, as I met Liz Lange and her sister Jane Wagman (who told us about their new website, shopafrolic.com). I also loved meeting Sarah Potempa, celebrity hair stylist who at the time had a 5-week-old (and she looked adorable and well-rested.)

My highlight, though, was having my hair straightened by the wonderful Richard Marin of Remington. (He sounds like a knight in shining armour, don’t you think?)  He convinced me that I should “absolutely” get a permanent treatment for my hair. As he effortlessly straightened my hair, we discussed the pros of treatments like Keratin, and I asked the millions of questions and shared my concerns. Seriously? He put me at ease. He used one of Remington’s newest flat irons to straighten that day. Have you seen my picture from Getting Gorgeous? I wish I had a before and after. The change was amazing.

So amazing, in fact, that after I was finished Getting Gorgeous, I went back to Blogher’s Expo floor, hair and make-up all “did.” So excited to meet the producer of Shine, I forgot that I was “done.” So when he apologized for not recognizing me from my Shine video, I laughed and replied, “well, I’ve had my hair and make-up done this morning.”

He commented that he often forgets that outside of California most ladies “don’t have hair and make-up done each morning.”

Sigh. I looked like a star.

Oh? And Richard. Don’t forget, I”m refinishing my basement so that you can move in. ‘kay?

Thanks to Getting Gorgeous Events for a fabulous morning and all of their vendors for the lessons and gifts.

Dear Just Precious,

I hear my daughter’s teacher is wonderful, and I want to make sure she knows that we’re excited to be in her class this year. I read that parents give gifts to their teachers on the first day. What should I give? What is the appropriate amount to spend?

I swear. Parents stress out over gifting… its not worth it. Really. Because, in a word, nothing. Give them nothing monetary on the first day of school. Give them a well-rested, well-fed, happy/nervous/curious/shy child and be a supportive parent and the teacher will be happy.

Here’s what you should consider:

On the first day of school your child’s teacher has about 23 new students to greet. She has 46 new hands to teach to wash and raise. She has 46 pairs of feet to remind not only not to run, but to walk in the right direction to the classroom or bathroom. She has 23 pairs of eyes to watch her as she stumbles and 23 pairs of ears who will hear her call Joey, Jason. She’s a wreck trying to just connect with her students and let them know that they all mean something to her.

She’s dying to get to know every child. She’s excited to welcome every child. (and every parent, sure.) But, really. You, the parent, you’re not her number one concern right now. So if you must go to the classroom (and I really do advise you against it unless your school encourages parents to take their students into the room to hug good-bye), do not do anything that would take the attention away from your child. Your child is what is important.

So why not send your child to school with a gift?

Think back to that teacher welcoming 23 new names with bright, shiny desks and 6 sharpened pencils in each pencil box. Imagine her having to show every child where his coat gets hung and what do do with his glue stick and tissue box. Imagine 23 children running up to you (the teacher) asking where the bathroom is and if he can borrow a book and what he should do next? Now. Imagine all that, in the first 2 minutes since the kids walk into the room, with a handful of gifts in your hands. Not a pretty sight, right? Not at all when you’re also dealing with a child in tears of nerves and another child frightened because his best friend from last year is across the hall. And then another little girl comes in and she doesn’t even belong in your room.

And all the teacher wants to do is hug these children and guide them. But she can’t. Because she has a handful of un-vased flowers and wrapped gifts and heavy books with big ribbons.

Still want to give a gift?

• Send a note on the second day, telling her what a great first day of school Sammy had and that you’re happy to help out around the room if she needs it, just call!
• Send a food tray (or home made desserts or a few pizzas) to the teachers’ room to welcome the staff back to school.

I’m not getting it, right? You really, really need to send a gift:

• Give your teacher a tiny bud vase with a single flower in it. Then, each Monday for the rest of the year send in a single flower to keep it fresh. (really, though, send the vase the 2nd week of school so this idea doesn’t overwhelm the teacher on the first day.)

Again, the most imporant things to send to school on the first day? A well-rested, well-fed, happy/nervous/sad/outgoing/shy/quiet/loud/confident child who knows that he has your love in his pocket. That. Is what a teacher wants most of all.

PTO crazies, I’m sure you agree. Its like this every year. Summer flies by and suddenly you’re hit by the realization that you have events to run in 2 weeks, and no one to run them.

No? You don’t? Well, then you’re lucky. Me? I’m busy. Last night I spent about 2 hours mapping out the year’s events on our calendar. Next, I contacted all of the people who had said they would be interested in running events and fundraisers to confirm their commitment. Most of them said yes. A few? Well, things change over the summer, right? So a few had to withdraw from their commitments (a nice way to say it, yes?) And, so, just like last year I pulled out my school directory and sent out an e-mail. It went something like this:

Aren’t you so lucky? See, I consider you my friend. And since we’re friends, you get to be bugged about helping out at school because I need help.

Yup. I just asked. And I asked about 20 people if they could fulfill about 10 spots. (Not everyone got back to me. Not everyone wanted to do it.)

The good news is that my next 3 events I now have committee chairs to run. The bad news? If I don’t fill the rest of the positions I”m going to be doing a lot of work this fall. And, you know what? I already do a lot of work.

Of course, we’re not finished yet. Yes, I have the committee chairs in place (for most of the events and fundraisers) but now I need to recruit volunteers to actually do the work.

At our school we do our sign-ups with paper and pencil. Which is great for a lot of our parents. But not all. There are those of us who are computer and social media minded and would love to run our sign-ups through a web-based application like Volunteer Spot. I spent some time playing around on Volunteer Spot this week and I can see how it would streamline the volunteer process, making it nice and organized. In my case, the challenge would be to get everyone to sign up and actually use it. But if a group is encouraged to be web-friendly, then Volunteer Spot is definitely something your PTO should consider.

This post is part of the Fill the Backpack program and is sponsored by Ziploc and 20th Century Fox.  Fill the Backpack is hosted by Volunteer Spot. Did you know I’m giving away one of 16 backpacks overflowing with great gifts like from companies like Leap Frog, Sun Maid and Carolina Pad? Enter to win by responding to my Fill the Backpack post by August 31.

A few weeks ago, I blogged about being accepted to be a BitMom Blog Network Member, meaning that I’m one of the bloggers affiliated with the program. Well, if I didn’t inspire you to join the BitMoms site then for all of the amazing support they offer when raising a cyber family (or even not raising, but watching your children become cyber-friendly from the sidelines), then here’s another reason you should join. Definitely join.

Does a free one-year subscription to BitDefender 2011 Internet Security make you want to join? How about a $25 Target Gift Card? Or a, ready?, new netbook computer?

Sorry. You won’t get all that for signing up. But you will get the BitDefender 2011 Internet Security key if you sign up for BitMoms and register for the twitter party they’re hosting on Friday night. About those gift cards and the netbook? Register for membership at BitMoms and register for the twitter party on Friday night and participate, and you’ll have a chance of winning.

Twitter party? What’s that? I know a lot of my readers aren’t twitterers (and that would be you, the one who thinks that’s the correct way of saying “tweeters”). Here’s the thing, if you haven’t tried out twitter before, this is an excellent time to do it. Its super easy to register and if you follow the hashtag #BitMoms on Friday night, you’ll be lead through the party with questions and discussion. A twitter party is actually a great tutorial. But even better? Twitter Party hostesses at Resourceful Mommy put together this great guide about participating in a twitter party.

Learn more about the #BitMoms Twitter Party. And stop by and give me a shout out. I’ll be popping by under the handle @justprecious.

I’m a BitMom Blog Network Member.

I get the appeal of a staycation. Really. Its all about exploring your surroundings while you ‘cation at home. But, as a stay-at-home-mom over the summer? That’s not too appealing. And that’s because there is nothing different from that and your every other day.

So… top 10 reasons that my Staycation is nothing short of just another day:

1. cleaning the kitchen floors after the kids crumb all over them
2. laundry
3. quick drives to local places… like the zoo
4. too close to work
5. too close to computer
6. too close to wii
7. rainy day? how about the mall? or the movies? or anything else we always do on a rainy day?
8. hard to say no to a playdate during naptime
9. I’d go to the gym even if I were away on vacation, and now I’m at my same-old-gym
10. cooking

So, fellow stay-at-home-moms, my advice? Save money and take a VAcation instead. Because the staycation is just another day for me.

What about you? Did you try a staycation? What’s your opinion on the latest anti-travel trend?