Parenting is hard, and the first week of school is often the hardest on kids, parents and teachers.  This blog lays out key risks for the night before/the morning routine and those first few minutes when you pick your child up.

 

Risks and opportunities for the night before and morning of school:

Not resetting your child’s sleep schedule can really cause a problem if they do not get a good night’s sleep.

Recommendation — if your child needs to go to sleep an hour earlier than their summer routine, move their bedtime up 15 minutes a day, a few days before school starts.  This makes the first morning easier

Not having what is needed to get out the door is a common challenge that results in stress, and too often the child being late for school

We recommend creating a visual schedule of what will happen the night before and the morning school starts.

This might include
               

Creating a list of what is needed for school and getting things ready a half hour before their bedtime:

Turning off all electronics a half hour before bedtime and doing something calming and fun

A three-minute warning before they have to get out of bed

Too often, kids do not remember what is expected.  A visual schedule might include:

brushing their teeth, washing their face, and putting on the right clothes – the first time we tried this it worked like a charm, except our child had not tied their shoes — we then laughed and added it to the schedule.

Often kids are hyper, because they have eaten an unhealthy breakfast.  Adding eating a healthy breakfast to the schedule helps.  We recommend giving your child 2 choices of what they want — too many choices often result in indecision.  Two choices gives them a say and often results in a quicker decision.

In the morning, when your child is ready by a certain time — have them do exercises, go out and play soccer or do something fun for 10 minutes.  It really helps to use the words “When you”, vs “If you”.  “When” helps them to create a positive image for the reward for being ready early.

When they get in the car — you might have their preferred music ready to play.

Note, one dad, whose daughter was always 20 minutes late, followed this routine and asked us on the third day of school: “what do we do when our child is now ready for school a half hour earlier than we need her to be?”.  We discussed the question with his daughter, and they agreed she could sleep in 15 minutes earlier and then play for an additional 15 minutes.

 

Risks and opportunities when picking your child up from school:

Kids often leave school mentally exhausted.  Too often parents are preoccupied when their child gets in the car.  Greet them with a smile and tell them how glad you are to see them

Kids are often asked “How was your day?”, or “How did you do today?”  

We recommend asking something lighter and more fun.  “What was the funniest thing that happened today?” or “did you make any new friends?”.

The question about what was the funniest thing that happened today may have them think about that during the rest of the day — and it is a good conversation starter.

Kids often eat early in the day and are both hungry and thirsty when you pick them up.  Have a healthy snack and drink ready for them.  You might add that to the visual schedule — so they have input on the snack and drink.

Kids often resist long conversations on the way home.  Talk about what kind of music they would like to have played on the ride home.  This gives everyone time to chill

Kids often have bottled up energy.  Give them time to do some physical activity

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Make The First Week Calmer and More Fun

Whether your child is in elementary, middle or high school, they will benefit from a concerted effort to make the morning and afternoon routines more relaxing and more fun.  If you have another idea that works for you and might work for others, please share it by emailing us at parents@3dlearner.com