It's Almost Time for School
We're now in the final month of summer vacation and school will be starting up again soon. That means all the late summer nights of fun and sleeping into the afternoon have to come to an end. It's about time to start thinking about school supplies and adapting back into a school night and morning routine. Your kids won't be happy about it, but the time has come. Here are some ways to make sure your kids are ready to go back to school.
Bedtime for School Nights
You're most likely going to start with their bedtime. All summer long, you've been letting them stay up an hour or two later. Now, it's important that they get plenty of sleep and are well-rested for tomorrow. It's the perfect time to start putting them to bed half an hour to an hour early until they're back to their normal bedtime. Sleeping on a bed with a twin or queen-size mattress will ensure that they sleep soundly and comfortably.
Waking Up for School
The next thing will be waking them up earlier. You can start by making sure they're awake before noon, then wake them up an hour earlier each week. By the time school is about to start, they should be able to wake up around eight in the morning. Different schools have different starting times. Elementary schools have different starting times from high schools. Surely you're familiar with what time your kids are expected to be at school. Seven to eight in the morning is the general time for kids to wake up for school. Getting them mentally used to waking up early is a follow-up of putting them to bed early.
Eating a Healthy Breakfast
Besides adjusting their sleep schedules, you may also have to make some diet changes. Depending on the age of your kids, they may or may not have made healthy food choices throughout the summer. This is a lot more applicable to teenagers as small children usually have help from their parents when having breakfast. Teenagers are likely to eat whatever they find that's appealing. They might have spent the summer lounging around with a bag of chips or an energy drink to wake them up. It's better for them to have a healthy and fulfilling breakfast that will give them the energy to make it through the day or at least until lunch.
Staying Safe and Healthy
One more thing to consider for the start of school is staying clean and healthy. The weather is going to eventually start cooling down and flu season will be here. They're going to be surrounded by a hundred different kids and germs are likely to spread. This is especially important this year as we're in the middle of a pandemic that includes face masks and social distancing. Hand sanitizer and boxes of Kleenex are usually requested among school supplies. Washing your hands and covering your cough is important regardless of a global pandemic. And that importance has certainly been stressed since the start of the pandemic. There's no harm (quite the opposite in fact) in stressing it some more.
Back to School in a Pandemic
These are some of the main things that parents focus on when the first day of school is around the corner. Of course, this year isn't going to the typical school startup that we're used to anticipating due to the coronavirus pandemic. Normally, the start of the school year includes the excitement of seeing friends again along with the dread of waking up early and having homework. This year, schools are delaying opening up, online classes are being worked out, and safety precautions are being put in place. This upcoming semester is uncertain for students and parents as many schools have been closed or online since March. And final decisions for how the semester is going to play out in terms of the virus spreading are still being considered. It's certainly going to be different due to face masks and social distancing.
