Back to School Tips for Parents, Children

The following was submitted by Maple Grove Psychotherapist Jenny Reimann of .

I can still remember my nerves getting ramped up in August every year, just waiting, and often dreading, for the school year to start. The smell in the air changed, it was getting a bit darker earlier, and things started to feel a bit more serious. School is coming soon, and though most parents are getting eager for their kids to have more of a structure to their day, the kids are often getting a bit nervous.

With summer comes little structure, later bedtimes, and a lot of fun. Transitioning back into our school routine can sometimes be a challenge for both parents and kids.

If you start seeing a change in your child’s behavior as the summer ends, it may be due to an increase in anxiety with the school year approaching. This nervousness can show itself in a variety of ways that include: difficulty falling/staying asleep, increase in complaints about stomach aches, acting out, scary dreams, or them simply telling you that they are scared.

Since you can’t make school go away, how can you help your school aged child transition into the school year as smooth as possible?

Here are some tips on what might help:

Make it fun

• Set aside a day or two for back to school shopping. Make it special, have lunch together, maybe buy them something special. When shopping for supplies, spend time looking at all of the choices, even the silly ones. To celebrate the completing the first day of school, have a celebratory dinner or ice cream.

Use your head again

• For younger kids, increase time spent reading together. Ask them to write lists for you or read street signs. For older kids, encourage them to make to-do lists to kickstart their organizational skills.

Slowly initiate structure

• By mid-August begin to push their bedtime to an earlier time. Start your evening routines of reading again (similar to homework time), have more dinners together, slow down the pace. 

Start talking about it

• It is certainly hard to avoid back to school time. When you see the commercials or supplies at Target, start talking about it approaching.  Casually ask about their excitement or nerves and hear what they have to say. Don’t push it if they don’t want to talk. 

Above all, remain positive. Refrain from making negative remarks about school.  It should be a fun, exciting time, not something to be dreaded. If we have a good attitude toward school, so too will they.