Back-To-School Tips
Summer is
winding down and the first day of school will be here before you know it. This
week I am going to share some tips to help you and your family get back into
the school routine. The hardest part for me as a kid was always getting on a
proper sleeping schedule. Make sure to have set times for going to bed and
waking up in the morning for once school is back into session. Take 2 weeks
before school actually starts and slowly push back your child’s bedtime and
start waking them up earlier. Do this over the last two weeks of summer and by
the first day of school they should have no problem going to bed on time and
waking up on time.
South
Carolina and Georgia’s tax free weekends are a great time to begin back to
school shopping. With hundreds of deals you can get everything you need at a
good price, but before you begin your shopping create an inventory first. Have
your child try on all of their old school clothes. Find out what fits and what
doesn’t. Also find out what school supplies you already have at home and create
a list of clothing and school supplies that you will need to purchase.
My last tip
is to stay organized. The first week of school you are going to be flooded with
papers to sign, lunch menus, upcoming events, upcoming projects, etc. Have a
designated spot to store all of this paperwork and in this spot have a
calendar. Use the calendar to mark important school dates such as project due dates
or field trip dates. This is also a good place to keep track of after school
activities such as school meetings and even therapy times. This is also a good
place to store visual schedules. Visual schedules are a great way to keep a
busy house on task and off to school on time. If you have multiple kids make
each one a different visual schedule with a different order to help prevent
people waiting for things such as the sink to brush their teeth.
Here are
some more resources below with other tips and tricks!
http://organizedhome.com/seasonal-spin/back-to-school-tips-get-organized
(Has printable checklists for back to school shopping, after school activities,
and lunch menus)
https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/family-building/back-to-school-tips/
-Matthew
D’Antonio, PT, DPT
Pediatric
Physical Therapist
