DS started first grade yesterday. DH and I were more apprehensive than he was; he loves school and was very excited to be back and see his friends.

At the parents' coffee after the first bell, the principal announced that the school district has adopted a new wellness policy. One of the new "rules" is no treats for birthdays -- no cupcakes, no cookies, nothing like that. That got me to thinking about other changes we as a family could make. A new school year is as good a milestone for that as any, right?

I decided that we would strive for:

More reading, less TV. We broke our TV habit on vacation out of necessity, but it's amazing how quickly we slipped back into it. But I don't think DS will miss his shows if they are replaced with reading time with Mommy. And for me, I find that there really isn't very much on TV that I'm all that excited about watching anyway (except The Biggest Loser, but that's a different topic).

Healthy lunches and snacks. DS made a special request to have either baby carrots or red pepper sticks in his lunch every day. Now, that may be because he doesn't want me to give him veggies he doesn't like, but I was still pretty proud of him. So I will make sure he has a fresh fruit and vegetable and healthy "entree" (today he has leftover homemade pizza). And I will continue to pack my own lunch at least twice a week, and strive for more.

More family activity. For a long time, DS was reluctant to go on walks or hikes with me, but he's been more amenable lately. We took a long walk before dinner last night, so I'll be asking him to do that more often.

The challenge will be in squeezing all this into our already full schedule. But I'm confident we will make progress!

Anyone else want to make a resolution for the new (school) year?

I am one of those parents who still bring in the cupcakes. More or less, the school wants us to be careful about stuff because of kids with food allergies.

My thought process is that my kids read labels and know that it is important to make good choices. We don't eat any processed foods or fried stuff. We include veggies, fruits , protein and carbs at all meals and they can really eat whichever they like as long as they don't fill the plate and over eat.

They know that snacks are ok as long as they have eaten well all day and know that one is enough. I think that there is still room for hot dogs and apple pie in kids lives, just not every day and too much.

My college girl recently spent time with my mom and dad, a couple of weeks. She gave them lessons and I realized that everything I did at home has effected her in her life. She made good choices, ran every day and even cooked for them. I feel like deprivation causes over indulgence!

Anyway, as for the new school year resolutions, I agree. What a great time to set a goal and stick to it.

Mine is to start my kids off in the morning with smiles, music and laughter and a healthy breakfast. After I drop them off at their schools I will make the gym part of the morning routine. I will get my housework done in between, pick them up, have snacks and start dinner. I will keep really healthy choices in my pantry and dust off my healthy cookbooks and start planning my meals ahead!!

Dd's school has a pretty strict policy around food. Generally there is no junk.
Dd does not pack her lunches as she does some math work in the morning and runs out of time. (We find this works well so that after school is more for free time and piano practice.)
We do, however, talk about lunches and we do some shopping together. This year she is asking for more leftovers for lunch- leftover pasta dishes and stuff from last night's dinner.

We bought a better Thermos to help keep food warm.

I teach about 3 days per week and almost aways take my lunch. (I make extra for dinner nearly every night to supply lunches for us the following day.)

I don't send many veggies for school lunch as I really want her to eat a filling lunch. Although she is happy to eat red peppers or cukes, she is a slow eater and tends to eat her veggies first. I send a main dish- like pasta or a PBJ and some fruit. Sometimes I send a yogurt or nuts too. (She does have 30 minutes to eat, but likes to chat and take her time.)

At dinner she eats veggies. And she gets plently of fruit. Plus on the weekends she probably eats more veggies.

Our fall routine is to take a walk after dinner- generally twice around out neighborhood- 1.4 miles.

TV time is really limited when school starts. There is just little time. We get home from school, do piano, play, get odds and ends done, eat dinner, walk, and then the evening is winding down.

Our school has the same policy and requests that for birthdays, we donate a book to the library or something of that sort. Unfortuantely a lot of parents blow it off and bring in junk anyway.

DD packs her own lunch and knows she needs a veggie and a fruit every day. It's up to her to decide what she'd like though.

We have a no TV rule on weekdays that we enforced most of the summer too so that was an easy transition. Now that school has started, that includes no computer games either.

When homework is done, we try to go outside, ride bikes, walk, etc (when I'm healthy) and play with friends.

DD already hit me up for a play date for this afternoon but hopefully she can go to someone else's house as my head is killing me and I don't think I could handle the extra noise this afternoon.