5 Back to School Tips

School will be back in session, and there are two weeks of summer vacation left. Now is the perfect time to start getting ready for the new school year ahead. See below for 5 Back to School Tips.

5 Back to School Tips:

1. Have a team meeting, and talk to your kids about the upcoming year ahead.

• Talk about what days may look like with sleeping, waking, hygiene, snacks and all things in-between.

• Talk about some of their upcoming responsibilities:

  • This may include getting their breakfast ready, or ensuring they are up and ready to eat, assisting with lunch packing, getting snacks ready for afterschool, cleaning out their lunch box, time for chores/homework, or anything else that may need to be done each day.

• Talk about some breakfast, lunch, and snacktime options that they may like to have.

• Talk about how they are feeling about the upcoming year ahead:

  • What are they most excited about?

  • Is there anything that they are nervous or worried about?

    • Validate their feelings, problem solve, and offer reassurance for some of their fears.

2. Ease back into a routine.

• This may be getting to sleep a little bit earlier, and waking up a little bit earlier.

• Practice in making meal choices and putting meals or snacks together.

3. Practice cafeteria manners.

• Washing hands before and after eating.

• Sitting at the table to eat.

• Talking nicely to others.

• Practicing table manners:

  • To help facilitate a positive eating experience, we may encourage our children to be mindful of how we talk about food, bodies and eating.

    • Keeping negative comments about others to self:

      • Not making negative comments about what people are eating, how people are eating, how much they are eating, or body weight, shape or size.

• Remind your child to be kind: if they see another child eating alone, encourage them to invite them to join.

• Role play with your kids on how they can introduce themselves, if they find they do not have anyone to sit with.

• Practice cleaning up and throwing trash away.

4. Talk to your child about how to recognize bullying at school, and what they can do if they experience or see this happening.

• See here for some ideas.

5. Be sure to make a point to check in with your child each day, using open ended questions, to provide a landscape for meaningful conversations to take place.

I hope you found this checklist to be helpful. What are you most looking forward to this year?