End of School Year Survival Guide: Staying Sane When Everything Happens at Once

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Feel like you're drowning in a sea of field day permission slips, dance recital costumes, and end-of-year teacher gifts? You're not alone! May brings a special kind of chaos for parents as the school year winds down and everything seems to happen simultaneously.

This episode tackles the overwhelming reality of end-of-school-year madness with practical strategies to help you maintain your sanity. We dive deep into five game-changing approaches: creating a comprehensive May brain dump with a visual family calendar, batching teacher appreciation tasks, preparing event gear in advance, protecting essential daily routines, and—perhaps most importantly—giving yourself permission to say no and embrace imperfection.

The mental load of parenting during this season is extraordinary, but these simple systems can create space for you to breathe. Rather than attempting to be everywhere and do everything perfectly, this episode encourages a more sustainable approach. As we discuss, "your presence matters more than your performance," and children benefit more from a grounded, present parent than one stretched too thin by impossible standards.

Whether you're juggling tournaments, recitals, final projects, or all of the above, these strategies will help you navigate May with more confidence and less stress. The chaos is temporary, but with intentional planning, you can find moments of peace even in this busiest of seasons. Remember—you're doing better than you think, and both you and your family will make it through with memories worth cherishing. Connect with me on Instagram @confidentlybeautifulpodcast and share your own sanity-saving strategies!

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Episode Transcript

Ciera (00:03):
you're listening to confidently beautiful with Ciera
a podcast to help you stayconfidently beautiful, because
we all have confidence inside us.
We just need to bring it outand I'm here to show you how
body image, dreams, parenting,style, personality and more here
we cover it all.
Get ready to stay confidentlybeautiful.
And we're back to anotherepisode of Confidently Beautiful

(00:28):
.
I am your host, Ciera, andtoday we are going to be talking
a little bit similar to what wetalked about last week.
Last week, we talked aboutsystems that can help make mom
life a little bit easier, butthis week we're going to be
talking specifically about endof school year chaos, because we
are halfway through May and I'msure you can feel the end of
school year.
Chaos, because we are halfwaythrough May and I'm sure you can
feel the end of school yearchaos, and I want to make it as

(00:49):
stress-free as possible for you.
I have some tips that can helpyou to stay organized and
present and hopefully be able tomake it through this end of
school year craziness with alittle bit of sanity.
We have field day, teachergifts, tournaments, recitals,
end of year parties, finalprojects it's all happening all
at once.
So how do we stay organized,grounded and somewhat sane

(01:11):
during all of this.
I'm going to give you some of myfavorite simple systems and
mindset shifts that can help tokeep you confident and cool
through the last part of thisschool year.
Number one is to do a Maycalendar brain dump.
So I do brain dumps frequently,but to specifically do one for
May it can be so helpful becausethere is so much that goes in

(01:33):
our brains for May, I feel like.
So just to have like one bigbrain dump of just everything
that's going to be going on inMay and everything that you need
to do can be so helpful.
So think school events that youneed to do can be so helpful.
So think school events,practices, parties, spirit days,
deadlines, everything that youmight need.

(01:53):
Just dump it all onto a pieceof paper.
And then I also like to justprint out an actual calendar and
to highlight important days,tape it on the fridge and just
so everyone knows like, put inthe calendar like these are the
big days this month.
Because there are so many bigdays in May.
That is sometimes helpful tohave that visual.
Even if you're typically not acalendar paper calendar visual
person, it can sometimes bereally helpful in months like

(02:14):
May, when we are just crazy andthere are so many places that we
all need to be, and it can alsolessen your mental load.
There are fewer surprises foryou and your family members if
you can all see it and you canalso like visually, see any
potential conflicts that mightbe in the way so that you can
help to tackle them early.
Number two is to batch the giftsand the appreciation stuff.

(02:36):
So do all of your teacher giftsand all in one sitting.
Have your kids sit down, writethe thank you notes for all of
their teachers all at once andput all of the thank you notes
together and all of the thankyou gifts together and just do
it all together at once.
That way is so much easier sothat when you have like little
gifts that you need to grabthroughout the month, you can

(02:56):
just grab them.
They're all done, they're allready.
And it is just easier for youas the parent, but it's also
easier for your kids, so you'renot bugging them a million times
like, oh, I need you to write athank you note here and I need
you to draw a picture for thisperson and this person.
It can just all be done all atonce and they can be meaningful
and sweet and actually thoughtout.
I like to keep a stash of giftbags and tags and tissue paper

(03:18):
all the time all year, but thiscan be really helpful, as we
have like those last minutescrambles or like maybe you
forgot to get a gift forsomebody and so you can just
have those.
And it does not need to be thePinterest perfect, fancy, like
over the top thing, justsomething simple, like just
whatever is simple is whatthey're going to love.
They're going to love somethingthat is just from the heart and

(03:41):
simple and something thoughtful.
Number three is to prep yourevent outfits and your gear in
advance.
So I am a dance mom, so I havea lot of dance things coming up.
So if I can get everything setaside I know I have all of her
costume extras set aside, I knowI have all of her costumes
ready to go and I haveeverything ready.
My son is starting baseballsoon, so I have all of his

(04:03):
baseball stuff, if I can keep itall grouped together and ready
so that when his first baseballpractice comes then we are ready
and we don't have to hurry andrush during all of this to try
and find where is this, where isthis in this drawer and this on
the shelf in the closet and allof the things.
They're just all grouped righttogether.
This is also true and it goesalong with one of my suggestions

(04:26):
from my last episode.
I talked about how I have like aclothes organizer in each of my
kids' closets.
So, like with the specialthemed days for school, I
already have those planned outand I don't have to think about
it the morning of.
They're already planned out aweek before.
So do that with whatever youhave.
Just think all of your eventsand just bunch all your outfits
and your gear that you mightneed for those events in advance

(04:47):
.
Have a designated bin or a spotthat for each of your kids
special gear and this could bereally helpful so you're not
running through the housewondering where everything is.
An optional item, if you havewant to go even a little bit
extra, is, if there's, ifthere's anything that you can't
set aside, then to have like achecklist so that you can have
it all ready.
So if you know like I need topack a lunch for this, like

(05:09):
obviously you maybe can't pack alunch three days in advance,
and so if you just have achecklist of okay, this is what
I need with this stuff, like,these are the other items that
I'm going to need, and then youcan have it all ready.
That's also helpful, too,because if, if your kids are old
enough, you can send your kidsto grab the list and to start
working their way through thelist as you're preparing for the
big events.
Number four is to protect thedaily routines that you can

(05:32):
control.
So what do I mean by this?
Well, you can control if youget the laundry done.
You can control if you pack thewater bottles at night.
You can control if you do yourgrocery pickups.
Do all these things soundfamiliar?
These are things from the lastepisode.
If you haven't listened to theprevious episode, go back to
episode 66 and listen to it.
I think you're going to find alot of things that are really

(05:53):
helpful for, like, just theplain boring routine days, but
also especially for in thesehectic, chaotic times in life.
So just protect all of thethings that are in your control.
Protect all of the things inyour house and your systems that
you have in your house that youcan control.
This will help to reducedecision fatigue and it will

(06:15):
help to just keep everythingflowing the way that it is
supposed to be.
And number five is permission tosay no, and it's okay if it's
not perfect.
You don't have to attend everysingle event.
I just decided there was anevent earlier this month that I
was just like, nope, that is notgoing to happen.
My husband was out of town withone of our other little kids

(06:38):
and I didn't want to take theother three by myself and it was
conflicting with another eventthat I had, and so I was going
to have to leave early, leaveone event early to go, get to
the other event, and it was justgoing to be chaotic and I just
thought you know what?
It's not a big deal if I don'tattend this event at the school,
it's not a problem.
My kids probably actually don'teven.
I don't even think they knewthat the school was doing this

(06:59):
event and so it wasn't a bigdeal.
Just say no and I could justlet go and it was not a problem
and it made that night so muchless chaotic.
We won't be able to make it allthe time, and that's okay.
And if we have to say somethingto somebody, we can just thank
them and graciously like thankyou so much for the invite.
I'm so sorry, but we're notgoing to be able to go.
Or we can tell ourselves I ambuying store-bought cookies and

(07:22):
that's okay.
I'm still a great mom.
They don't have to be homemadefor this event and I'm still a
great mom.
Your presence matters more thanyour performance, and so give
yourself some grace.
It's okay if everything isn'tthe way that you wanted it to be
or the way that you think thateveryone is expecting it to be.
So quick recap May brain dumpand a visual calendar.

(07:42):
Batch teacher gifts or anyother gifts that you're going to
have to be giving this month.
Prep your gear and your outfitsearly and have them all grouped
together.
Stick to grounding dailyroutines.
Think all the things that youcan control within your home and
say no and ditch perfectionism.
It's okay if you're not at anevent and it's okay if not.

(08:05):
Everything is the way that youhave it in your mind or the way
that you think it should be.
Pick one of those and try it aswe get through the craziness of
this May.
We're almost there.
We're so close and I would loveto hear your own sanity savers,
so if you want to share them onInstagram.
Tag me at Confidently BeautifulPodcast.
I would love to hear them andjust a reminder that you are

(08:26):
doing amazing and this chaos isjust temporary.
We can make it through and wecan be confident through it.
Thanks for listening.
Connect with me on Instagram atconfidently beautiful podcast
and share this episode withsomeone in your life who could
use a little reminder of justhow amazing they already are.
Stay confidently beautiful.