Beating the “Back to School Blues”

We welcome everyone back after what we hope was a good summer. As we get ready for the start of the 2016-17 school year, we thought it would be timely to share some sound back to school routine advice from Laura Caprini, who is an expert in this department. She is a mother AND a teacher. Thanks, Laura!

By Laura Caprini

Here we are once again, getting the kids ready for yet another school year. Sitting outside the other day, I noticed glimpses of yellow and orange already tingeing the leaves on our maples, an early reminder of what’s coming. To confirm this, I let out a series of loud, wet sneezes, a definite trademark reminder of the season-my allergies were kicking in. Exit summer, enter autumn.  

If you’re like me, it’s likely that you are beginning to get the kids back into “school mode.”  I’ve been pretty slack on bed-time enforcement, and sleeping-in has become customary in our home. But alas, all good things must come to an end. This week we actually set our alarm clocks -Yikes!

My daughter and son begin school at the end of August, and so part of my job as Mom is to get these two psyched for a brand new school year. This is not an easy feat where kids are concerned, but there are a few simple steps a family can take to make getting back to school as painless as possible. Easing back into the daily routine will be all that more smoother with a little advanced preparation and organization. 

The first thing I did this week was to re-instate the “chore chart” on the fridge. I sheepishly admit to being a little slack in this department, too. I’m home with the kids all summer (I’m a teacher), and as a result,  I tend to do many of the chores myself rather than watch both of them get into a heated argument about who empties which rack in the dishwasher. 

Next, I create the weekly “breakfast” menu. This is a list of quick and easy to make morning meals that my kids choose from the night before.  This eliminates wasting time in the morning as each of them stare into the great refrigerator “abyss” while trying to decide what to eat. 

Bath and showers happen the night prior, outfits are carefully selected before we go to bed (I have a teenage daughter, so I’ll say no more), and bedtime routines are slowly re-established so that nobody goes into shock-mode the night before the first day of school begins.

Of course, where would I be if I didn’t end this piece by reminding parents to make reading a part of your child’s daily routine: Be sure to get bedtime book-reading rituals back into full swing. This may be easier for some kids and a little more challenging with other kids not so keen on books. My son, for example, needs a significant amount of coaxing to settle in with a book before lights out. Not so with my daughter:  an avid reader who’ll read just about anything from “War and Peace” (her current novel) to the instructions on the back of a shampoo bottle!   

Good luck to all you families out there.  Have a great school year.  It’ll be over before you know it!

Laura Caprini is co-director, with Sandra Weir, of The Hudson Literacy Clinic www.HudsonLiteracyClinic.ca