It is mid-July and time to start thinking about getting those kiddos ready to go back to school. Parents are often concerned about Summer Slide, Summer Sleep, and parents being ready for their kids to go back to school and stop eating all the food in the refrigerator!
Summer Slide is real, Y’all. Summer Slide, also called Summer Learning Loss, means that our kids can forget 3 months of reading skills and 2 months of math skills when they don’t practice those skills daily over the summer. By 3rd grade, a child can be one year behind in reading skills, just from Summer Slide!
Summer Sleep is another challenge. Without having a set schedule, our kids tend to stay up later and sleep in later. This change in sleep schedule actually changes the internal clock, and sets it to a different time zone! That means, if your kiddo has been going to sleep at midnight and waking up at 10AM, they are going to struggle to go to bed at 9PM and wake up at 6AM. That is a 3-hour difference in sleep and wake-up time and they lose one hour of sleep (getting 10 hours per night all summer but 9 hours per night once school starts). Poor sleep makes it hard for kids to concentrate, learn, remember what they’ve learned, and control their own emotions and behaviors.
Here are 5 ideas for helping kids (and parents) get ready for Back-to-School:
- Clothes: You remember how fun it was to shop for back-to-school clothes and watch your mother put the clothes on lay-away during the summer? Yes!!! Well, Back-to-School shopping can be a fun way to motivate our little humans to get ready for the new school year to show off their new threads. If your kiddo worked during the summer, they may want to financially contribute to back-to-school clothes or school supplies. Consider helping your financially responsible kiddo budget and decide what they should pay for (e.g., that backpack they’ve been wanting).
- Sleep: Get your child’s sleep right! It’s time for a bedtime routine, Y’all. Okay, if your kiddo has been falling asleep at midnight, they will not suddenly feel sleepy at 9PM. That is not how to brain works, Ma’am, Sir. Instead, start waking up your offspring 1 hour earlier each day until they are waking at the appropriate time for school. Do not allow them to nap or sleep at all during the day, so they can save all their sleep for night. Your Little Precious Thing will become sleepy earlier automatically. For example:
- Monday, wake up at 10AM
- Tuesday, wake up at 9AM
- Wednesday, wake up at 8AM
- Thursday, wake up at 7AM
- Friday, wake up at 6AM
- Intro Letters: Introduce your child to the teachers. I used to write an Introduction Letter to each of my sons’ teachers every year. An Intro Letter is a simple, one-page letter or email to each teacher introducing your Perfect Little Angel to them. The Intro Letter is a simple way to partner with teachers at the beginning of the school year. In your Intro Letter, I suggest including the following:
- Your child’s name, picture, and preferred nickname. Ask your Little Royal Pain to choose which picture to include in the letter.
- Your child’s health diagnoses, such as food allergies, seizures, asthma, diabetes, genetic disorder, learning disabilties, etc. It is beneficial for the teachers to learn from parents which children have health concerns to help the teacher create a safe environment for your child.
- Your child’s school services. If your child has a 504 Plan or an Individualized Education Program (IEP), please let the teacher know. Many teachers do not learn which of their students have school services until much later in the school year. That is why I suggest parents include a copy of the 504 Plan or the IEP goals that are relevant to the teacher’s class (e.g., math accommodations or math goals for the math teacher).
- Your child’s strengths and challenges. Please include 2 strengths and 2 challenges your Little Angel may have in school and provide the teacher guidence or suggestions for supporting your baby. For example, “Beverly shuts down when she becomes frustrated, so please give her a few minutes of space to calm herself down. When she’s calm, she will ask for help.” Ask your kiddo to help you decide what to share.
- Your contact info. Please include your and your co-parents’ full names, phone numbers, and email addresses, so teachers can contact you when needed.
- Print the letter on colorful stationery paper, put in colorful envelopes, and deliver to the schools’ front desk attendant one week before school starts. Ask the attendant to put one envelope in your child’s teachers’ mailboxes for you. You may not know who the teachers are, but the school secretaries will.
- Follow-up with an email one week after school starts to make sure the teacher received your letter.
- 1st Day of School Meal: Consider making a special breakfast, lunch, or dinner for your kiddos to celebrate back-to-school. This may be one fun way to celebrate the first week.
- Reading: Please start having your Little Darling read 30 minutes a day. Reading materials should be interesting to them and fun. They can read recipes, magazine articles, books, signs, newspapers, sales fliers, and other materials. The idea is to get your child back in the habit of reading daily.
For more ideas for Back-to-School, please consult the following sources:
- Healthy Children (from American Academy of Pediatrics) “Back to School Tips for Families” www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/gradeschool/school/Pages/back-to-school-tips.aspx
- Scholastic “7 Tips to Prepare for the First Days of Back to School” https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/school-life/back-to-school/8-tips-to-prepare-first-days-school.html
- Kids Health “Back to School” https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/back-school.html
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