How to Ease Your Child's Transition Back to School: Advice from the Education Experts in Queens

While we all cling to summer and its reality of easygoing schedules for as long as we possibly can, the days are growing shorter and the schoolyear is right around the corner. "Many kids are excited about seeing friends they haven't seen since June, but some find it hard to adjust to the new schedule when they are so accustomed to the carefree cadence of summer," observes Kan Chen, director of Chyten Education Services in Bayside. But from transitioning your kids' sleep schedules in advance to maintaining some of the good habits they developed during the previous schoolyear, there are things you can do to help them get their groove back. We asked local experts:

How can I help my child ease the transition from summer to back-to-school?

"Simply trying to get a child to put down a game and go sit in his or her room alone to read typically won't happen. It's just not stimulating enough for some kids. But if you, your spouse or any other member of the family can turn reading into a fun time that can be shared together, then your child will most likely want to read. To keep their interest, turn reading into a game. Try asking him how many details he can recall from a particular paragraph, page or chapter, and keep count. Let your child test you on the details, too, and have a fun wager with a creative prize for the winner. Five correct answers may equal an ice cream, say. The bottom line is that if kids don't see you, the parent, reading, chances are that they won't be interested either.

   Ensuring that your child's attitude is positive-and stays positive-is really as simple as checking your own attitude and reactions to the situations around you. Very often parents are so busy trying to steady the balancing act of life, they don't realize they are not promoting positive energy and reinforcement within their own home. When you hear your child gossiping about another child, remind her that she would not like to hear such negativity about herself. Growing up we were never allowed to call someone 'stupid' or 'dumb.' Negative words were never welcomed in our home without some sort of reprimand. Maybe this is too much like Little House on the Prairie, but my brothers and I, still to this day, are very positive people who have no use for gossip or negativity. Today it is even easier for your child to spread negativity around-all he or she has to do is text away. With that in mind, maybe you should check their texts every now and then (you are paying for it, after all!). 

   During our annual August school-supply shopping trip, my mom would always check if I read all the books on my required reading list. If that was a no (and most of the time it was a no) she took the opportunity to tell me that pool time was shortened every day so I could catch up. We did a lot of talking about what my next grade would be like, and somehow she always managed to find a girl who had just finished the grade I was entering to give me a workload heads-up. The combination of these things kick-started me into a back-to-school mode. Our summer nights gradually got shorter and play time ended right before dinner. What I did not realize then that I do now was my mother was unwinding us from our carefree summer mode and getting us ready for school in her own mommy way. Each parent will have their own method for this, but I think it's that universal shopping of the backpack that puts it all in motion for everyone."

-Annette Vallone-Rocchio, owner, Precious Moments Preschool, Whitestone, and Landrum School of Dance, Flushing

"First: Try not to plan a vacation where the child comes back and is off to school the following Monday. Usually a 2-week separation from the end of the family vacation to the start of school will give sufficient time for a child to adjust.