From Summertime to Schooltime

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kelloggs.

Last week I reminisced about our glorious summer adventures and how much we enjoyed seeing and doing new things. Now school has started and we're back to our old, regular routine. Instead of discovering walking down country lanes, we're navigating suburbia to get to school. Instead of enjoying the regional cuisine of Paris' 18th quarter, we're back to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Instead of packing 3-ounce containers of liquid into a clear plastic Ziploc bag (don't you hate that?), we're stuffing homework and books into a backpack. Man, getting back to the same old, same old is a drag. But we managed to do it, thanks to my secret weapon -- Jet Lag. Jet lag usually sucks -- who wants their kids waking up at 3:00 AM? -- but it actually helped us because the kids were sleeping and waking up so early. Instead of helping them wake up a little bit earlier every day, we helped them wake up a little bit later every day, until we got to our schooltime wake-up and bedtime hours. Okay, that doesn't really help unless you've traveled halfway around the world. My real secret weapon -- two secret weapons, actually -- was starting early and being consistent. Start Early We arrived from the UK two weeks before school started, so we had plenty of time to get back to our school schedule -- and we had time to ease in gradually. You know that thing about boiling live crabs, right? If you put them straight into boiling water they'll freak out and probably snap your fingers off, but if you put them in cold water and heat it up gradually, they'll never know what hit (or killed) them. It's the same with my kids: you say goodnight just a wee bit later every day, and open up the curtains a wee bit earlier the next day. Let them stay in their pajamas for an hour one day, then forty-five minutes the next day, and so on.

Whether we're hiking through a forest or walking to school, we always start the day with a nutritious breakfast -- and for my kids, that means cereal and milk.

Be Consistent Doing new things is great, but we did maintain some semblance of a routine throughout the summer, and it really helped us get back on track for the new school year. I may have eased up on my "reading before videogames" rule, but we tried to make sure each kid read something each and every day. They may not have had to make their beds while we stayed in hotels, but I did ask them to fold their clothes and put them away. The kids may have lazed around in their pajamas for hours on end, but they still got up every morning and had cereal for breakfast. Not that I had to turn into a dragon lady to get the kids to do that -- they love cereal and milk anyway, so I left well enough alone! Whatever is on your back-to-school breakfast table, have some Bonggamom Finds on the side! I've partnered with BlogHer and Kellogg's to bring you some fun breakfast topics, from morning routines to cereal to family breakfast traditions and more. Join me every week through October 2010 for a new discussion -- and a new giveaway for a $100 Visa Gift Card! Win a $100 Visa Gift Card One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will win a $100 Visa Gift card courtesy of Kellogg's and BlogHer. To enter, just leave a comment on this post and tell me what kind of breakfast you serve your kids before they head off to school. You can get extra entries by tweeting and blogging about this giveaway, making sure to include a link to this giveaway in your tweet or blog post. Just leave a comment on this post and share the link to your tweet or blog post. Entries will be accepted until September 20, 2010. For full giveaway rules, click here. You can also gain 24 extra chances to win $100 by visiting the BlogHer.com Kellogg exclusive offers page. Good luck! The Mom's Breakfast Club was started to help educate moms and families about kids' cereal and share the scoop on their nutritional benefits and ingredients. Kellogg's helps moms keep their morning simple with cereal varieties for everyone in the family. For more information, visit www.loveyourcereal.com. This is a sponsored post from BlogHer and Kellogg's. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.