It’s nearly here! Summer vacation is coming to an end and for many children, it is time to return to the classroom or home learning and even for the very first time! An exciting school year is upon us!
New commitments, responsibilities, schedules, friends, teachers, and routines: returning to school after a long vacation is a very important phase for the well-being and mindset of our children and us as parents.
A return to school with positive energy and the right attitude can make the entire school year a more enjoyable experience, helping to prevent negative experiences and moments of upset or anxiousness.
At Love Writing Co. we have put together 6 tips to help you face the back-to-school season with the right mindset that we hope you find helpful.
Before diving into the article, we’d like to re-emphasise a massive part of this process and that is making learning a part of every day routine. In the classroom your child will learn all day everyday in all different ways and it is so important to keep learning going when they are at home too. That isn’t to say that it requires hours and hours of home learning, but merely 10 minutes a day can make a massive difference, especially when learning to write.
Is your child between the ages of 3-5?
Is your child between the ages of 6-9?
But that’s enough chatting from me, let’s get to the good part! Enjoy your reading and it helps!
TIP 1. Be positive
TIP 2. Re-establish a routine
TIP 3. Develop a sleep routine
TIP 4. Eliminate anxiety and stress
TIP 5. Do a trial run
TIP 6. Label, Label, Label
- TOP TIP
- TOP IDEA
Top Tip: Be as truthful as possible about their school experience, explain that you understand they may miss being home sometimes, but they will always come home at the end of a fun day.
Start the day with positive affirmations of how brave they are going to school and how amazing they will do at school. Check out our FREE positive affirmation cards and see why so many children have them as a part of their morning routines.
Top Idea: A lovely way of maintaining a connection through the school day is allowing your child a memento to hold onto. A great idea is a ‘’brave button’’ badge or sticker (for slightly older children small charm bracelets you could wear together).
Any time they want to feel connected to you, they can press their brave button and you can talk about all the times you felt their connection throughout the day.
TIP 1. Be positive. Give them things to look forward to
Encourage your children to focus on the positive aspects of going back to school.
Do some fun things together to prepare for school, such as:
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Spend an afternoon together getting all of your school prep done.
By allowing your child to be involved in the experience and making independent decisions, their choices of what shoes, trousers, hair clips etc that they would like for school, allows them to become excited to wear something that they have chosen.
We’ve all experienced the “I don’t wanna get dressed” in the morning, right? So allowing them to be a part of the process really can help this. This can also apply to online shopping, simple ask “do you prefer this one or this one” and let them choose for the same principle to apply.
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Fill up their Pencil Case!
Because who doesn’t love new stationery?!
Check out our back to school stationery essentials, currently 15% off at www.lovewritingco.com . From all things Tripod Grip writing pencils, to erasable colouring pencils and eraser sharpeners. When using Love Writing Co. writing tools, studies show a faster, improved writing ability, and improved grip and control amongst children.-
Getting to see how much they have grown when buying brand new school uniforms
A growing ruler chart is always good fun for this!
- Remind your child that they will soon see their school friends.
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Talk to your child about the NEW friends they will make.
TIP 2. Re-establish a routine
A few weeks before school starts, try to re-establish their morning routine to prevent those stressful mornings when they are back to school.
- Make your routine easier by packing their school bag the night before.
- Make lunch together the day before. This is a great way to get children involved in their day-to-day activities. Allowing them to choose what they would like to eat for lunch allows them to feel important, engaged, listened to and in control when at school. Plus, it does wonders for avoiding those “I don't want to eat it!” tears.. We’ve all been there, ha!
- Give it a try to lay out the uniform neatly the night before school. Not only will this help you keep everything neat and tidy with a prepared environment, but also eliminates those early morning panics of “where is that!?! This means you can walk out of the house every morning on a positive note!
TIP 3. Develop a sleep routine
Getting enough sleep is important for a child to do well at school. Children who do not get enough sleep can have difficulty concentrating which can then impact learning. Sleep is critical!
- Set a routine bedtime for your child and try to keep to it every night. Having a consistent bedtime routine will help your child settle down and have a restful sleep.
- Pre-bedtime routines may involve a bath/shower, reading with them, tucking them in, and saying good-night to them.
- Have your child turn off electronic devices well before bedtime.
- Try to have the home as calm as possible when younger children are trying to fall asleep.
TIP 4. Eliminate anxiety and stress
Returning to school has taken on a new meaning for the whole family over the last 18 months. With many children having unfortunate missed teaching time, schools are now adopting a balance of educational, social and emotional needs of their students more than ever.
- It’s important to remind your child that they can talk to you about anything and remind them that returning to school is a wonderful chance for them to enjoy learning & expanding their knowledge with their friends.
- Talk with your little one. Check in on them when you feel it’s right/ acknowledge it is a difficult time for them and you are here for them.
- If like many parents, you are conscious of returning to school germs, then remind your child of the importance of washing their hands and good hand hygiene throughout their day to help to keep their health as best as possible.
TIP 5. Do a trial run
After months of fun at home, going back to school might feel a little intimidating to your child. But that’s okay, we are here to help you to ease that separation anxiety as effectively as possible.
Consider a School Day Trial Run and call it some fun like the ‘Day out at school’ game! Making it fun and interactive can make your child feel really engaged and a part of the experience.
- Start the day by putting an early alarm on for the same time you would wake before going to school.
- Incorporate a good morning stretch and warm-up to get those muscles and brain activated for the day
- Have a good healthy, nutritious breakfast
- You can either pretend your living room is a classroom for the day or you can get dressed and drive to your child’s school and explain the journey you will go on and this is where they will end up with their friends and teachers.
- If you want to get out and about, go to a local library and grab a small area to be your classroom for the day
TIP 6. Label, Label, Label
One of the best tips we can give is to put your child’s name on absolutely everything!
Try to put them somewhere where they’re easy to find and show your child where they are so they can look for them.
If you don’t like sewing, you can get iron-on or stick-on labels or you could just write their name on the clothing labels with a marker pen.
And there we have it, our top 6 back to school tips, we hope you find them useful and feel inspired to try one new thing today to prepare your child to go back to school. In the upcoming weeks, we will be chatting about all things well-being, learning tips & tricks, handwriting and releasing more free resources.
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If you’re looking for resources to help your child learn to write at home, check these out.
Shop Handwriting and letter formation workbooks here:
- Handwriting Practice & Alphabet Letter Formation Workbooks: Available in ages 3-9
- Cursive and Pre-Cursive books that complement the UK National School Curriculum | SEND Friendly | Left and right hand friendly books
Shop Tripod Grip Writing Tools here:
Shop Instant Downloadable Workbooks. Perfect for fun learning at home, holidays and useful print on demand here:
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