In case you couldn’t tell by the displays up in Target, back to school is right around the corner!
For most families getting back to school means one thing: getting back into a new routine. Your kids are properly used to sleeping in, eating what they want when they want to, going to bed late, and really not having a firm order to their days.
The start of school is often a crash back to reality and can be a difficult time. While there is no way to make going back to school 100% perfect, there is something that you can do to make the transition back a little bit easier for everyone!
Start early
Don’t let the first day of school be the first day of your new routine. The sooner you start transitioning your child to their new schedule, the better. Use the extra time to slowly transition your child to an early bedtime and earlier wake-up call. Make sure they are getting meals around the times they will be getting them in school and try your best to mimic what their days are going to look like.
This can be a slow transition where you move bedtime up by 10 minutes per week and have their wake-up call follow the same. Ultimately, your goal is to get your child ready for the new routine and not make the transition so harsh on them.
But this process isn’t just for your child, it is also for you! Make sure you are changing your schedule to get plenty of rest and be ready to hustle your kids out the door each day!
Sit down and have a plan for the first day
You can prepare your child all you want, but everything you worked for could go out the window when it is showtime. This is why you need a plan for the first day of school that is rock solid and ready to go. Know exactly what time you need to be out the door, and back yourself into the time that your child needs to be up and moving.
This will also tie up all the loose ends in your child’s preparation. Make sure their backpacks are loaded up with everything they need, have a plan of exactly what is for breakfast, and even have your child pick out their back-to-school outfit. The more of these things you plan, the less likely you are to have a first-day mistake!
Give it some time
While the advice we have given above is a great way to minimize the impact of going back to school, just know that it is going to be a bit of a struggle no matter what you do. Adjusting to a new schedule isn’t easy for everyone and the mixture of nervousness and excitement might have your child more on edge than they would normally be. It can make you feel that maybe this is just how it is always going to be. It won’t! Even after the first week, you will be able to make more adjustments to make sure your children are set up to succeed for an amazing new school year!
As the sun sets on another Wisconsin summer, it’s difficult to get yourself and your children’s brains back into school mode. Having a plan of attack and making sure you start early are two ways to minimize the impacts of a new schedule on your child, but they aren’t perfect. Just remember that children are resilient and even though they might struggle at first, they will be back into their normal routine in no time at all!
