?Start Planning Now for Back-to-School

The new school year is just around the corner, which typically means a change in schedules as well as a higher level of busyness for the entire household. The best way to avoid the stress that can sometimes come along with the back-to-school rush is to plan ahead and make adequate preparations for the new semester. Below are some tips that will help you and your family seamlessly transition back into the regular school routine.

1. One of the first adjustments you will need to make is with your children’s sleep schedule. About one to two weeks before the first day of school, your kids should start going to bed and waking up at the same hours they would if they were already in school. This will help their bodies get accustomed to the new sleep schedule, and prevent any abrupt changes in sleep patterns. Ideally, your kids should get at least 10 hours of sleep a night in order to be at their best during the school day. The last thing you would want to do is send a cranky, sleep-deprived child into a brand new school environment, so make sure that their sleep schedules have been adequately adjusted at least a week or two in advance.
2. If your child’s school has a dress code, make sure to find out what it is and purchase their clothes accordingly. Get a list of any required supplies (e.g., backpacks, lunch boxes, pencils, notebooks, markers, etc.) and make sure to purchase these supplies well in advance. Try your best to avoid last-minute shopping, as this will do nothing but create additional stress on top of an already anxious time.
3. Safety is an absolutely critical part of preparing your kids for back-to-school time. Children who are kindergarten age and older should know their home phone number, the cell phone number of their primary parental contact and their own street address. Make sure that their backpack and other major supplies are marked with their contact information, as well as an emergency contact number. Having keyless locks definitely comes in handy during the school year as well, because you can give your child his/her own pass code that they can enter into the lock’s keypad, giving them quick and easy access into the house once they get home from school. This is far better than giving your child a physical key to keep up with, which can easily be lost or stolen. Keyless locks such as the Schlage FE575 are perfectly suited for this purpose.
4. Be willing to talk to your kids and ask them to share their feelings about the upcoming school year. Allow them to express their honest thoughts with you, and do your best not to discount or ridicule their feelings. Offer to help them in whatever way you can in order for them to have a smoother transition into the new semester. This type of genuine empathy can go a long way toward starting your child’s school year off on the right foot.

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