If August feels more like survival mode than a fresh start, you're not alone.

In this honest and actionable episode of The New Modern Mom Podcast: Toolkit Series, host Barbara Mighdoll reflects on the logistical chaos that caught her off guard last year: forgotten forms, last-minute lunch packing, zero time for herself, and a mental load that felt completely unmanageable. This year, she’s doing things differently, and she’s sharing the exact five steps she’s putting into practice now to bring more ease, structure, and breathing room into her family’s back-to-school routine.

This isn’t about complicated systems or Pinterest-perfect checklists. It’s about real tools for real working moms, tools that help you feel prepared instead of scrambling.

Inside this episode, you’ll learn:

📘 A therapist-backed Social Story method that helps ease your child’s back-to-school jitters (and helps you avoid daily drop-off drama)

⏰ Why test-driving your morning routine now, before school starts, can make a huge difference (yes, even if your schedule’s still all over the place)

🎒 How to get your kid involved in school prep in simple, meaningful ways that don’t just add to your to-do list

📋 A night-before checklist that keeps mornings from imploding (plus the visual trick that keeps the whole house on track)

📆 A ChatGPT calendar hack that adds every school holiday and early release to your calendar automatically (because no one has time to do that manually)

Whether you're navigating the first year of kindergarten or juggling multiple school drop-offs, this episode is filled with practical tips for working moms who want to start the school year feeling calm, confident, and a little more in control.

Perfect for moms searching for:

→ Back to school tips for working moms

→ School morning routine hacks

→ How to prep kids for kindergarten

→ ChatGPT for busy moms

→ Family organization tools

→ Managing the mental load as a parent

Listen now and walk away with a few small shifts that’ll make a big difference.

Resources mentioned:

• ChatGPT Hack for Back-to-School Calendaring
• ChatGPT Prompt for Creating a Social Story
• Join the August Early Risers Club to commit to no more snoozing your alarm

Follow Barbara:

• On Instagram here
• On LinkedIn here

About New Modern Mom: You know the dream of having it all – a thriving career, an active social life, present time with your kids, and adventures in travel. But how the F can we actually do it all? Host Barbara Mighdoll chats with other working mom executives on the raw truth behind their support systems, self-identity shifts, productivity, infertility and pregnancy loss, mom guilt, partner dynamics, childcare and even imposter syndrome. We’re exploring how these incredible women are translating their professional superpowers into their personal lives. Because we believe you can have it all, you just cannot do it all. Together, we’re building the playbook for the new modern mom.

The New Modern Mom Podcast is produced by Barbara Mighdoll, Ali Alquiza, and Em Roberts.