I’m currently in this really fascinating time of life. Thanks to kids and personal interests, my friends are between the ages of mid-twenties to early fifties. Some have tiny tots and others, like me, have grown or almost grown kids.

Universally, what is shared by all of these differently aged women – “momographics,” if you will – is that back-to-school is THE most stressful time of the year.

In the past week, I have had untold number of conversations about meetings, registrations, textbooks, open houses, homerooms, forms to fill out, things to sign up for, volunteering, carpools, school photos…! And along with school comes the dizzying array of extra-curricular activities. It’s enough to make anybody’s head spin.

The other thing about this time of year is that it’s very emotional for women. (Sure, it’s sexist, but I have yet to see a teary-eyed dad standing in the school parking lot.) Some of us very reluctantly send our kids off to college or perhaps kindergarten for the first time. Others are planning that first-day-of-school party to celebrate getting back a bit of “me” time.

No matter what time of life this is for you – teeny babies or college co-eds – there’s only one way to keep your wits about you – organization. Seriously, if you don’t have mad organizational skills, you’ll go insane. I vividly remember creating a staging area on my dining room table in the days leading up to the start of school. I’d have piles for each kid with signatures and checks attached to what seemed like millions of forms.

Now my organizational skills are needed mostly to drag people out of bed and sometimes shove them out the door on time. I try really hard to squelch the control freak in me by letting them tell me what they need. More times than not, I can’t help myself. I hate to admit it, but in the back of my head it’s because I feel like a forgotten form or check will reflect badly on my parenting skills. As my husband often says to me: “It’s all about you, isn’t it?” Ouch.

What about you? How are you feeling about back-to-school? Weepy or joyous? What drives you crazy about getting back into the old routine? If you had power, what would you change about this time of year?

I guess it was Shakespeare who said: “All the world’s a stage...” If I had my druthers, I’d amend that and say that I wish that all the world was First Stage, because frankly, it would be a much better place.

These past two weeks, my daughter spent her days at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center at First Stage Theater Academy. This has been an annual thing for her the past 4 or 5 years. I am not being overly dramatic (pardon the pun) when I say that First Stage changed her life. (Her words, not mine.)

She started there as a middle-school child, full of energy and sarcasm but perhaps a little low on self-esteem and confidence. During those first two weeks at First Stage several years ago, she suddenly bloomed into someone funny and outgoing, no longer a follower. Through the years, she’s turned into a young woman passionate about musical theater, which may nor may not be her niche, but that’s not what is important.

It wasn’t until the December after her first summer at First Stage Theater Academy that I found out what that experience really meant to her. We were having a family dinner, asking each other the one thing that happened that year that was important to each of us.

My daughter looked at us and simply said: “Well, duh. First Stage. It changed my life.”

Wow. Pretty powerful words coming from your own child.

Frankly I wasn’t surprised. All you have to do is attend “Presentation” on the last day of your child’s weeks at First Stage to understand how it changes lives.

This week, I watched my daughter’s Presentation and once again was blown away by what they’re doing for kids in Milwaukee. I did not realize, until Academy director John Maclay mentioned it, that First Stage is the largest theater academy in the entire nation. Right here - in Milwaukee. Lucky us.

But it’s not just that it’s the biggest, although that does help attract first-rate theater professionals to work with the kids.

What matters is what they’re teaching. The Academy philosophy is “Life Skills through Stage Skills” and although the stage skills may not be evident at the end of a 2, 3 or 4 week session, the life skills definitely will be.

Just listen to the First Stage cheer that the kids scream out every single day at the Academy:

"I Can't" is NOT in my vocabulary!

I take RISKS!

I CONQUER my fears!

I am not afraid to LEAD!

What an awesome mantra for any child growing up in today’s society.

And there is more – a lot more. There are the rights and responsibilities that each Academy student has. The right NOT to be made fun of. The right to be treated and to treat others with respect and kindness. The right to try new things, perhaps fail and still have the support of everyone there. Now do you see why I wish the world were more like First Stage?

And that’s what John Maclay left all the students with at the end of Presentation – the challenge to take those principles of kindness, respect and support and use them in their everyday lives. It may not always work, but it’s still worth doing.

I just have one word – Bravo!