Back-to-School Tip #3: Ease your family back toward normalcy with small steps

After sev­er­al months of our activ­i­ties being restrict­ed to home, get­ting back to ​“nor­mal” (Is that even a thing any­more?) may be anx­i­ety-pro­vok­ing for some. While some kid­dos respond fine to the ​“cold turkey” method of just jump­ing right back into a rou­tine, oth­ers will need their re-entry to be more grad­ual. Meal­times, bed­times, even hygiene sched­ules may be out of sync after such a long break from school.

Start get­ting your family’s dai­ly rou­tine back on track now so that the school day will be eas­i­er for them to adjust to. Make small adjust­ments to your child’s eat­ing and sleep­ing sched­ule every day to grad­u­al­ly shift back into a more struc­tured rou­tine. If she is appre­hen­sive about return­ing to karate lessons, maybe have her watch a class or hang out at the dojo to get reac­cli­mat­ed before join­ing in the fun. If the thought of return­ing to school reduces him to tears, take the next few weeks to help him warm up to the idea by dri­ving by the school or spend­ing a few min­utes in the park­ing lot talk­ing about fun mem­o­ries of last year. It’s hard on kids and their par­ents and guardians to make sev­er­al big changes at once. Avoid the strug­gle by break­ing it down and tak­ing small steps every day.