Your child is ready with a new outfit, a fresh backpack, and a brand-new box of crayons. So why do you feel unprepared or overwhelmed with going back to school? The School-Based Services team at Catholic Charities of Buffalo understands that many children and parents struggle with adjusting to the long days of school and all the activities that fall may bring.
“While you’re ready to get back to routine and are excited to watch your child grow another school year, the end of summer and beginning of fall are full of new situations, new routines, and a variety of emotions,” said Elise Pogorzelski, LCSW, senior director of school-based services, Catholic Charities of Buffalo. “Starting the conversation and routine now and in the weeks leading up to the first day, will help to ease this transition. Children are still learning to be responsible, so set aside time to practice skills such as packing lunches or filling backpacks and talking through what to expect at drop-off and pick-up. Waiting until the night before the first day of school will only add stress for both children and parents.”
To ease the back-to-school transition, here are three tips the School-Based Services team at Catholic Charities recommends:
Start school routines now
For many the best part of summer is often the lack of schedules. However, if your child struggles with early mornings, it might be helpful to make bedtime a little earlier each day for two weeks before school begins. For example, if summer bedtime is 9 p.m. but school bedtime is 7:30 p.m., use each night to bridge the gap between times. It might also be helpful to mirror the routine of a school morning and a school bedtime in the final week. Once your child wakes up, they follow the same steps they do on a school morning and then have them do the same steps that happen before bed on a school night. For younger children, it may even be beneficial to add structure throughout the day. Adding scheduled reading time, lunch, and play will help to mirror the routine they might follow at school.
Communicate expectations and responsibilities
As your child progresses with each grade level, the expectations and responsibilities that you have for your child will change. For example, you may expect your new middle schooler to be responsible for packing their own lunches and making sure their backpack is ready by the door. Or you might ask your second grader to make sure they take out their “take home folder” each night. Developmentally appropriate responsibilities are a great way to teach your child life-long skills. In these final weeks of summer, it’s important to communicate these expectations to your child. This allows them to understand the responsibility and practice the skill before it’s 6 a.m. on a school morning and expectations are not being met.
Take time to check in with your child
Although the thought of a new school year can be exciting, your child might be feeling nervous or overwhelmed. A new year often means a new classroom, a new teacher, new classmates, and maybe even a new building. It’s important to check in with your child and allow them to share all the feelings or worries they may be having. You can help prepare your child for change by validating their feelings, talking with them about the positive parts of a new school year, and reading books about going back to school to help them understand what it might be like. Also find out if your school has any meet-the-teacher or back-to-school nights. These events may be an opportunity to introduce your child to their classmates and teachers and explore the classroom or school building.
Catholic Charities’ school-based programs provide extra supports to help students overcome obstacles they may face in achieving success in the classroom. Services offered throughout Western New York include the student support program, an early childhood support program, and the foster grandparent program. For more information, visit ccwny.org/school-based-services/.