Ease Back-to-School Stress
Switching from the laid back, fun in the sun of summer to rules, homework, and routines can be a big jump for parents and children alike. But with a little preparation and the right attitude, it doesn’t have to be so hard. Here are a few tips to help parents ease kids back into their routines and reduce stress.
Stay Positive!
If you’re dreading the back-to-school season, your attitude likely will wear off on your kids. Go into it with a positive attitude and make the preparations fun instead of a chore! Spend a fun day with each child going clothing shopping for a new fall wardrobe or let kids pick out their school supplies. The stress of school’s starting can ruin the last couple weeks of summer vacation if you’re not careful, so try to spend those weeks checking off some of those summer bucket list items. If you didn’t make it to the water park or out for ice cream at your favorite place yet, get out and make it happen before school arrives. Make the first day of school something to look forward to by starting a fun tradition like cooking a special breakfast together on the first day.
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!
The more you can prepare for the beginning of school, the better off you will be. Give yourself a month to get everything ready. This way if something comes up unexpectedly, you will have plenty of time to tackle it. Spend a Sunday prepping frozen meals. Having your family’s favorite meals prepped and ready to pop in the oven will save you so much time and stress when school starts and you’re running the kids in different directions.
Every night prepare everything you can for the next day. Try to eliminate as much from your morning routine as possible. That means laying out the whole family’s outfits for the next morning, having kids decide what they will want for breakfast, preparing lunches and packing backpacks. Mornings rarely go smoothly, so the more you have accomplished the night before, the less stress you will feel when your alarm goes off.
Back to Bedtime
Have your kids become night owls this summer? Don’t worry! Slowly moving their bedtime up a half-hour per week until they are back to their school night bedtime will be a painless way to ease the kids back into their normal sleeping routine. When you bump up their bedtime, bump up their wake-up time too. Give the kids a week before school starts to practice getting up on time, getting ready and eating breakfast before they would need to leave for school. Once the first day arrives, they will be up and at ’em bright and early!
Get Organized
Before school begins, spend time decluttering and deep cleaning your home. Kicking off school with an organized home will lessen stress on the entire family. While you are organizing, set up a command post. This designated area will be where all school items go. Shoes, jackets, backpacks and lunch boxes will also be placed in this space. You can also provide a small folder or cubby in which your kids can deposit any important notes or other items they need you to read, sign or return back to school, as well as a calendar of events and a to-do list. When kids get home each day, they will place all of their belongings in the command post. Gone will be the days of searching for a field trip permission slip the night before a trip to the zoo or trying to hunt down those overdue library books.
Skip the Store
Dreading those long, detailed school supply lists and mobs of moms with their kids trying to pick out the perfect binder in the back-to-school aisle? Skip it! Thanks to Target’s School List Assist and Amazon’s School List program, school supply shopping has never been easier. Simply find your child’s school and class supply list online, match the list to the items you want to purchase, add the items to your cart, check out and wait for them to arrive on your doorstep!
If your kids still love picking out their own school supplies at the store, ask your school for a list of supplies at the beginning of the summer. The lists usually don’t change from year to year. This will allow you to slowly purchase items off the list throughout the summer. You won’t find yourself searching for that last-minute item the night before school begins, and you won’t be spending as much on supplies in one big shopping trip.
Speaking of skipping school supply shopping. One of our family’s best stress reducers is grocery pickup. Most grocery stores offer online grocery ordering and free pick up or delivery. You simply add items to your cart, pay online and pick them up at a designated time. I love how this method saves your favorite items, making it easier to add things to your cart on your next visit. You even can add last-minute items if you forget an ingredient for your recipe or realize you’re supposed to bring treats for the class party in the morning.
- Start a first-day-of-school tradition to ease the stress and spark excitement. Here are a few ideas:
- Go out to breakfast as a family.
- Leave a fun note in their lunch boxes.
- Wake them up with balloons in their room.
- Have an extra special afternoon snack waiting for them when they get home.
- Surprise them with a ride home with you instead of a bus ride.
- Bring lunch from their favorite restaurant on the first day.
- Have a back-to-school dinner party with friends the night before school starts.
- Take first-day-of-school photos in the same place each year.
- Interview your kids on video about what they are looking forward to most this year.
- Cook a big breakfast together.
- Read a back-to-school book before bed.
- Have each child’s teacher sign a special book every year for your kids to look back on in the years to come.
Regan Lyons is a freelance writer who lives in St. Joseph, MO, with her husband and 4-year-old daughter.