Four Tips for Back-To-School Preparation

How to Prepare Kids to Go Back to School

Back-to-school season can induce a lot of anxiety and stress for parents and children, but it doesn’t have to. The family can prepare for the school year by communicating early and often, setting goals, creating a routine, and brushing up on skills.

1. Communicate Early and Often. 

Start the conversation early about going back to school with your children. Ask them how they’re feeling about the upcoming school year. While most kids dread waking up to an alarm clock and spending eight hours in a classroom, they might have other worries they’re not telling you about.

Make sure you address any concerns you and your child have. It’s much harder to calm nerves and strategize when you’re in a time crunch, so provide ample time to develop solutions for any back-to-school worries. If you start early, you and your child can brainstorm ideas for addressing concerns, such as planning what to do if they can’t find their next class or open their locker.

Keep the conversation positive by asking your child what they’re excited about for this upcoming school year. If they can’t think of anything, be prepared to suggest things they can look forward to, like making new friends or seeing old friends. A study by Alison Wood Brooks of Harvard Business School says, “Compared with those who attempt to calm down, individuals who reappraise their anxious arousal as excitement feel more excited and perform better.” This study suggests you can turn those first-day jitters into excitement using the right attitude and mindset. 

2. Set goals. 

With a new school year comes assignments, tests, and responsibilities. You can help your child mitigate these responsibilities by setting goals and realistic expectations for the school year. Know your child’s strengths and weaknesses and help them find the proper balance for setting goals. 

Allowing your child to have realistic boundaries based on their capabilities will help them feel more relaxed. Marie S. Paxton of Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder suggests that parents’ expectations don’t always match what will happen. When setting goals, consider how complex a subject or activity is for your child and determine how much they can reasonably achieve without physical or emotional stress. Maybe an ‘A’ is a realistic grade in gym or music, but perhaps it isn’t for math or writing. 

3. Create a Routine.

Let’s face it, we all lose our typical routine when we have time off, whether you like to stay up late, sleep in or both. So, getting back into the swing of things before the school year starts is essential. Get ready by starting morning and night-time routines that reflect your children’s school schedule. You can even incorporate good habits into your child’s routine, like reading a book before bed and eating a healthy breakfast. 

Implementing a proper sleep schedule can help kids’ bodies prepare for the daily routine they’ll need during the school year. An article from the Harvard Division of Continuing Education suggests that being well rested decreases daytime fatigue and increases productivity, ability to pay attention to details and concentration. You’ll set your child up for success by creating a consistent routine. 

4. Brush Up on Skills.

For kids, summer is all about forgetting school and relaxing. And that’s precisely what they do, which is why the new school year means a lot of review from the previous year. However, you can give your kids a head start by having them brush up on skills before returning to school.

No one wants to see their child fall behind, but the truth is, kids naturally forget those essential skills they were learning only a few months ago. A study in Education, Finance, and Policy revealed that, on average, students lose 25% – 30% of their school-year learning during the summer. You can reintroduce skills like math, reading and writing to give your child that extra boost they need.