Ready, Set, School! Preparing Your Child for a Successful Year

Summertime is a time for being outside, having fun, and being worry free of homework! Having said this, the transition back to school can sometimes be difficult. This transition can be a big adjustment, including physically, mentally, and emotionally. Here are a few suggestions to help children transition from summer to the start of the new school year. Establishing routines is vital for this transition!

Adjust Sleep Schedules

As the school year approaches, try putting your child to sleep 10-15 minutes earlier than normal. This should allow for getting into a school year sleep routine that will provide optimal rest for each child, which then develops optimal functioning for your child. Most early childhood development experts recommend the following:

• Preschoolers (3-5 years old) need 10-13 hours per night
• School age children (6-12 years old) need 9-12 hours per night
• Teenagers (13-18 years old) need typically 8-10 hours per night

Read Each Day

Visit the public library as part of your summertime routine. Since reading is a very important part of learning in general, make it enjoyable by having your child read to you, the family pet, or even their favorite stuffed animal, depending on the age of your child. You can even have older children share with you what they read.

Math is Also Important

Strengthen math skills by practicing simple skills using an app or online program, even a printout of math exercises can be great to get the brain back into shape!  

Don’t Forget Healthy Eating 

Several weeks before school starts, make a list of healthy and delicious lunch and snack foods that kids will love to take to school. 

Plan Upcoming Routines

Adults and children alike thrive when a routine or schedule is developed for the day. Discuss with your children what the school day will look like once the new school year begins. For instance, what will wake up time look like - set wake up times and expectations for those activities that need to be completed prior to leaving the house for school. Also, plan what after school will look like, including homework time and play time. If you build a schedule ahead of time with your child’s input, they will be more likely to follow this routine. Of course, make sure your children know that some expectations are non negotiable!

Be Present

Allow yourself more time at the beginning of this routine for your children and provide a lot of reassurance so kids can become comfortable with this established routine. After a week or two, this routine will take over for itself and the kids will not need as much supervision or reassurance. This is kind of like brushing your teeth, after a while, this becomes mindless and routine.  

Anxiety

Spend some time asking children if they are worried about going back to school and/or moving into a new classroom/having new teachers/ or another school. Allow kids an opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings and provide reassurance that these are normal and that this transition will be fine. Also, allow kids to express any excitement or things they are looking forward to.

When developing these routines, especially with homework, remember, as the day progresses, the harder it is to focus and reach optimal functioning. Therefore, experts agree that leaving homework for the last part of the day is not optimal. Providing a reasonable homework environment and/or area is beneficial.

Motivation

To help children get motivated to succeed in school and with their responsibilities, provide encouraging words or affirmations, including when kids succeed and/or have tried hard to succeed. Make it okay that as long as they try their best, that is the main goal, because, as we all know, not everyone gets an A, and that is okay!

Finally, by developing these routines with your kids’ input and sticking to them, this provides an optimal opportunity for success. Help kids see the big picture, it is better to have failed then to have failed to try! Everyone has failures, those that succeed use these failures as ways to become successful.