5 Tips To Ease Into Back To School Routine

Intelligence plus character — that is the true goal of education. - Martin Luther King Jr.

There are less than 5 days left before another school year begins! I do hope things get better so that the kids are able to enjoy their classroom learning, because let's face it, some of us are over the whole " Stay-at-home" routine :)

The unique thing about this school year is that My "Mr. Mo" is beginning JK. - Still can't believe it!

We are sort of ready, and I'll like to share with you 5 tips I've started practicing to get us into a routine before the craziness begins;

1. Set up an earlier Bedtime routine: I'm assuming that because of the summer break, bedtime has been all over the place as It has been with Mr. Mo. So, I started putting him to bed an hour earlier than he would normally. The plan is to move an hour earlier again by the beginning of next week. (Wish me luck). If an hour doesn't work, I'll do 30 minutes instead. At the moment he's in bed by 9pm, so I'm aiming for 8 or 8.30pm.

2. Create a lunchbox time table: I've been getting tips from older moms and I hear this particular point a lot. You don't want to try figuring out what your kid will take for lunch on the morning of a school day! The good thing about this is there are several templates online, so you can adapt templates to suit you. Check out this template that was shared on a WhatsApp group for moms in Ontario I belong to.

3. Become Familiar with School/Teacher: For moms like me that have a child starting school this year, this is huge. Typically, there should be an open house which will allow parents to meet with teachers. You could also familiarize yourself with their classrooms, parking etc. so you don't waste time trying to figure that out on the first day of school.

4. Arrange Play dates: Again, for parents with younger kids like me, if your kid has been out of school setting for some weeks or months, It's best to reintroduce them to their old friends so they begin warming up to the idea of seeing kids their age everyday. For us, we recently met a new family here in Cambridge we've been hanging out with and their first child is a 5 year old. She and Mr. Mo. have been bonding pretty nicely. We've also attended Sunday service in person twice in August and Mr. Mo went to the children's church - Though he didn't like it, this is the reason why we are ensuring it happens.

5. Stick to A Routine During the Day: I know this is tough especially if you have to work or just have to be out, but you can try at least. It doesn't have to be a strict routine. The point is you are trying to get your kid adjusted for school routines, so this makes it easier for them to ease into it. Allow breakfast, lunch and dinner at set times. Also include activities during the day to engage them in. For learning, I started using the ABC Mouse app and he loves it. If you are already sticking to a routine, that's absolutely fantastic! you have 1 less thing to worry about.

For me, my main challenge has been sticking to a routine for the kids and still trying to complete my own tasks in a day. - I never thought I'll ever have to complain about 24 hours in a day not being enough.

I know my post is kind of late because we literally have few days left before school begins, but if you haven't started any of the points I mentioned then you'll want to begin now. Good luck!

#backtoschool #tipsforkids #preppingforschool

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