Where did that summer go? Before it’s completely gone, now is a great time to prepare your kids for going back school. If they are used to running around wild outside all day and staying up late, you need to help them make the transition back to the world of school. Here are some tips to get everyone prepped for school again (parents too!).
Talk About School
Getting ready for school is not just buying school supplies, it’s also a state of mind. Talk school up and make it positive. Reminisce about the good times they had with classmates, teachers and at school events. Talk to your child about how proud you are of all the work they did last year to pass that grade. Say how you feel excited for their new year at school and ask them how they feel about it. If they are feeling nervous or worried, acknowledge their feelings and talk about how that’s normal to feel that way when there is a change in their routine. Reassure them that you have faith that they can do it and that you will be supporting them all the way.
Back to Class Countdown
For younger kids in particular, it’s great to brush up on calendar skills and also to help mentally prepare them for going back to school. Mark down on the calendar the first day of school with stars and smiley faces. Then as the weeks and days go by, look at the calendar and do a countdown with kids each day as you get closer to the first day of school.
Take a Sneak Peek at School
Go back to school early. Most schools have playgrounds, so make a trip back to school to play on familiar swings and slides. Invite friends and classmates for the kids and have a picnic lunch. It can be fun for parents to have some time to chat and talk about going back to school too. Also, usually a week to a few days before school, administrators often put up tentative class lists, so it can help to find out who your child’s teacher will be and who will be in their class.
Involve Kids In Getting Ready for School
Have kids help out wherever you can so they are involved in the process of getting ready for school. A common ritual for getting ready for school is taking the kids shopping for new school clothes and accessories like a new backpack or lunch kit. Another can be getting a back-to-school haircut. Involve children with doing inventory on what they have left of their old school supplies and helping with making a list of new supplies that are needed. Shop for food for lunches together, let them help pick out some of the items like fruit, snacks and what goes into their sandwich. (You may have to set the rule that items must be healthy, relatively, and for younger kids give them a choice between two items like apples or oranges.)
Preparing for Early Morning School Hours
If your kids are used to going to bed close to midnight, it’s time to get their internal clocks set back to school time. Don’t just cold turkey them back to early morning rising if you can help it. Instead, slowly change their schedule so they going to bed earlier and waking up earlier by 10 to 20 minutes a day until their body clocks are more in tune with school hours.
Time to Go Back to Class
Get your kids ready for the new school year by talking about it with them, having a countdown on a calendar so they know when their first day is and by involving them with getting needed school supplies and related items. Visit school before it starts, and you can even make a play date of it by inviting other kids they’ll be going to school with. It’s also time to get everyone back to waking up early in the morning, so make bedtimes and wake times earlier bit by bit until the big day.
Tami Nicholson - Tami is the Topic Editor for Parenting Methods at Suite101. She is a mother of two with a background in education and journalism.
Join the Conversation