Practicing without pressure will help make these routines second nature by the time school is well underway. To ease the transition, about a week before the first day of school, start their bedtime routine about 10 minutes earlier each night and wake them up 10 minutes earlier each morning, every day, until they’re back on track
Make sure kids understand their new schedules.
That goes for at school and at home! Older kids may find a day planner useful for tracking classes and homework assignments; younger kids may need a little more assistance. Try visual aids, like a chore chart to make things more manageable.
Put in place a routine for homework.
Breaking the nightly assignments into manageable steps can help your child avoid feeling overwhelmed. If you have children who don’t have homework, give them something busy to do while you work on dinner. It doesn’t have to be complicated–coloring, reading, or sorting blocks will work.
Questions to ask as you remold your family routines:
What will we do for bedtime and morning routines?
Will they have to lay their school clothes out the night before; make their own breakfasts; their own lunches?
How long does the walk or bike to school take?
What time does the bus show up and how long does it take to get to the corner?
What time do we have to leave?
Get kids involved in back-to-school shopping
Sure, it may be faster to go shopping by yourself, but make it an annual routine to let kids fill the cart and cross off items on the list. It will keep them involved and excited about getting back to school.
• Have kids try on their fall clothes. After a summer of living in shorts, growth spurts may get missed until you see them in long pants.
• Check their shoes as well. Their feet may have grown too, and those close-toed shoes won’t fit the same as their sandals and flip-flops.
• Pull out their backpacks and lunch boxes from last year. Decide what, if any, can make it another year and what needs to be replaced.
• Buy school supplies far in advance. If you shop the weekend before school begins, you may find stores are out of some of the items on your list. Buy early to avoid the frantic drive all over town.
Mealtime Help
A book review of: 7 Day Menu Planner for Dummies
Flavorful, nutritious meals that can be prepared quickly, easily, and economically. 7-Day Menu Planner For Dummies is the perfect book for any family looking for a structured, nutritional approach to daily meal planning. This book over a year’s worth of weekly dinner ideas and recipes that take an average of thirty minutes to prepare, contain an average of thirty percent calories from fat, and use common ingredients to save time and money.
“The book is filled with helpful tips on how to give your family healthy meals that are easy to make and won’t break the bank.” Sharon Y.