Last night, I saw the movie, "Bad Moms" with two of my dear girlfriends. We parked ourselves on the back row of the theater with all our goodies and laughed our heads off.  Pure fun!

If you aren't familiar with it, the movie is about a mother who becomes so overwhelmed with trying to do everything perfectly, that she "throws in the towel" and transforms into a "bad Mom." The steps she took to being a bad Mom, actually made her a better one. (Hope I didn't kill it for anyone!) I love it when a movie takes viewers to the core of a social problem in such a way that we are able to stand outside ourselves and see the big picture. It's even better when the journey is paved with laughter.

So Bad Mom's out there… August is upon us. Back-to-school! Like cattle, we will file into the stores to buy everything on that damn school supply list. We will go on to discover that all of their pants are now high waters. So we will sit outside the dressing room waiting for our sensitive children who can't stand most textures or just don't fit into those standard clothing sizes to find something they like. We will try to be patient. We will try to smile. We will sign them up for activities that we think will be good for them. We will complete form after form after form. The slots on the calendar will quickly fill leaving very little time for ourselves. We will feel like rats in the back-to-school race.

It doesn't have to be this way.

This year, I invite you to plan ahead to be bad. REALLY BAD!

• Limit activities. Schedule as little for your children as possible.
• Schedule time for yourself. Put it on the calendar. Your needs are as important as theirs.
• If they are developmentally able, let them make their own lunches. Have them make a list or pictures of the different food groups and teach them how to have each one represented in their lunch.
• Order school supplies on line.  My friend Lisa Lancaster inspired this one.  (www.amazonsmiles.com will donate a portion back to your child's school) 
• Have children use their own alarms to get up in the morning. You likely will still need to do some prodding.
• Shop for clothes later.  They won't be naked.
• Share the love. If you have one, ask your partner to commit to taking on some tasks. Then let them go! It will not be done the way you do it and that is just fine.

Think of some other ways that you can let go of the pressures. Be really bad until it feels really good!