You may think that this year is going to be easy-peasy, especially if you have prior back-to-school experience. However, the reality has a tendency to be a bit different than what we expect. Therefore, stress and anxiety that follow school year prep can be really pressuring for both your kids and you as parents. With that in mind, you can take a new practical approach and make sure that this beginning of a school year proceeds as smoothly as possible. There are a couple of tips that can help you prepare so take a look.
Adopt the new schedule in advance
Even if there’s still a week or two of summer break left, it would be wise to start with the school year schedule as soon as possible. This especially involves waking up, meals and bedtime. If your whole family starts following this new schedule, it will be much easier to transition back into it just in time for school. That way, you’ll be able to prevent any potential issues that would have otherwise stress everyone out.
Plan out your shopping essentials
Shopping for the new school year can be another stressful issue. Your kids may really hate shopping, or, they may enjoy it far too much. Either way, unplanned shopping trips can really end in a disaster. Therefore, before you go anywhere and look at any school essentials, sit your kids down and talk to them. Make a shopping list of all the things they need and then find the best offer. That way, you’ll know exactly where to go and what to look for.
Be there for your kids
The ones that are the most nervous about going back to school are your kids. Therefore, it’s very important to talk to them. However, don’t do it superficially. Talk about the possibility of making new friends and minimize their anxiety by talking about things that they will actually love about school. This can be playing with their friends or learning something new. Of course, if they’re truly worried about something, try to come up with possible solutions.
Bring back the responsibilities
Not many kids think about chores and other responsibilities during summer, and that’s perfectly normal. After all, they too deserve a rest. However, they still need to fall back into the usual school routine and keep up with the program. You can help your kids rediscover the importance of being responsible by giving them some chores to complete before the school year starts. This can be making the bed in the morning, tidying up their room, choosing the clothes to wear for tomorrow or folding the clothing pieces properly.
Make the whole experience enjoyable
If your kids aren’t happy and they stress about school a lot, you won’t be satisfied either. However, it’s paramount for your and their sanity to make school time as fun as possible. Studying is important but kids also need to know that they can freely express themselves. For example, you can let them use eco-friendly permanent markers to decorate their notebooks or, wait for it, decorate a wooden garden furniture, thus, expressing their creative self. You can also do fun chemistry experiments at home or let them in on some of the most extraordinary facts about the nature around them.
The most important thing about the back-to-school period is understanding that it’s perfectly normal for it to be a bit stressful for your whole family. Once you accept that, dealing with different situations and changes in your everyday life will be much easier. The end of summer may be near, but that doesn’t mean that autumn, and everything that comes with it, is not going to be fun and exciting.
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