How to Ease Your Child's Transition Back to School: Advice from the Education Experts in Nassau County, Long Island
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"It is quite normal for a child to experience a range of emotions about returning to school after a relaxing summer vacation. To help your child transition from summer to back-to-school, here are a few tips:
Should social worries come up in conversation, listen and calmly provide assurance.
Go shopping for school supplies with your child and let him make the choice about certain supplies needed, such as the color of looseleaf paper. Then gather the supplies and pack your child's backpack a couple of days before school starts.
Get a class list and set up a playdate with a classmate during the summer. You can also set up an appointment to take a tour of the school to help with familiarity.
Set up a special homework/study area in the home."
-Rhonda Boltax, teacher, Keys To Reading, Inc., Great Neck
"Easing children back into school can be challenging-but not impossible, I promise! One of the most important transitions for your children is the shift back to a quieter, less stimulating evening routine. In summer, activities get pushed later into the night. With barbecues, kickball games, ice cream trucks, evenings at the beach and endless playtime, kids just seem to conk out by the end of a long summer's day. Bedtime routines seem to fly out the window during these easy, breezy days. By the time September rolls around (and all too quickly!), it can feel like we have to start from scratch, figuring out how to reign in the good times. So how do we help our children do a 360-degree turn, moving back to studies, routine and responsibility?
The very best tip I've learned is this: About ten days before school starts, slowly begin to reduce the amount of time that your children stay up at night. Go back to their old school routines, working back towards the bedtime you've chosen for them during the academic year. Begin to incorporate the different steps they can take each night to get there, which means a specific order from which to prepare for sleep. Dinner, down time, bath time, teeth brushing, bedtime stories . . . begin to put these elements into place each night, using consistency and clear guidelines for doing so. Avoid anything stimulating to the senses. This includes sugar, high-intensity tv shows or movies, and a game of hide and seek! Children need to wind down, way down, so that they can rest and rejuvenate body, mind and spirit."
-Julie Cohen, LCSW, family and couples therapist, www.MagicSeedsLiving.com, Great Neck
"It will already be hard enough the night before the first day, so try to make the final two weeks of summer more structured with a daily routine for wake-ups, mealtimes, etc. Resist the temptation to sleep as late as possible these last two weeks-it's not a good strategy for starting the school year off right. Do not underestimate how important home life is to supporting the school experience. Children feel more secure and self-confident when they know what to expect. Practicing these positive routines over and over contributes to making them a habit that could last a lifetime.
Take younger children to the library to pick out books about starting school and use the stories to encourage positive conversation about it. Have your child tell relatives or friends about their going to school so you can hear what they know and correct any misunderstanding. With older children, discuss what they might want to do differently this coming schoolyear to avoid any difficulties they might have experienced in the past. Set some reasonable goals and write them down to review as the school year progresses. Acknowledge if your children express feelings of insecurity about starting a new class, but reinforce your confidence in their ability to handle it. Give specific examples of things they once found hard and how they are able to do it easily now.
Having a heart-to-heart talk with your grade-, middle- or high-school-age child now about your expectations for the coming school year-homework routines, grades, friends, extracurricular activities-will give you an opportunity to hear about their concerns so you can address them at a leisurely pace before school begins. Have high but realistic standards for your children. Research shows favorable results when parents raise the bar for what they expect, as long as expectations are realistic for your particular child's capabilities. Enthusiasm is contagious, so be sure to maintain your own positive attitude about your child's growing independence and capabilities. You are your child's best and most important cheerleader. This goes a long way to ensuring a successful new school year."
-Karen Horowitz, MA, director, Parenting Resource Network, Friedberg JCC, Oceanside
