Family life and back to school

We’ve all had a long break from school. Some of you who didn’t get much time off work over the Christmas holidays will still be in a routine, while for others, it may be weeks since you’ve had to get up to an alarm, organize school bags, get kids to bed at a reasonable hour etc. In this week’s wellbeing article, I’d like to share some tips on making “back to school” a little easier. If after using these techniques and strategies, you are having problems with your child whether that be getting to bed, school refusal, not wanting to do their tasks….please feel free to reach out to either your child’s teacher or me directly. We’re here to help as best we can.

· Establishing a routine is so important, especially for younger children and those with a neurodivergent brain. Knowing what comes next and what is expected of them helps kids feel secure. Each day may be different with schedules, but make it as good as you can.

· I know that it can be tempting to push your child about how their day was, but sometimes it’s not helpful. Give them time to process the day first, and then things that may have been a struggle may not be so bad once they have reflected on it and have been given a chance to breath. Many professionals suggest sitting together at dinner and then giving everyone, yourselves included, an opportunity to talk about their day. When my kids were little, this was the most valuable part of the day. Just remember not to push to find out the bad things if none have been mentioned. There may not have been anything, and making a child invent a bad thing or revisit something that is no longer a problem will only cause them to become anxious. On the other hand, if they’ve had a bad day, try to get them to think of something that was good or a moment that made them happy.

· Packing school bags the night before can save time and anxiety in the morning, aside from the lunch box and drink bottle of course. Is everything labelled to save stress at school if something gets lost?

· Getting a good nights sleep is really important. You know what it’s like to be tired. You don’t cope as well as you should, you might be moody, snap at people who don’t deserve it. Kids are the same and not getting enough sleep has also been linked to poor mental healthy, disruptive behaviour and poor growth. Forget 8 hours, that’s for adults. Our children aged between 6 and 12 need between 9 and 11 hours per night. This could be an article in itself, so I’ll leave this point here.

· Don’t be tempted to book your child in to a sport or activity every afternoon. Overscheduling (for most) can cause stress, sleep problems, problems with mental health, decreased academic performance and difficulty focusing. Help your child identify activities that are important to them and schedule some down time, giving them time to relaxe.

· Limit screen time. Did you know that having more than 2 hours screen time a day can cause the brains cortex to thin. This sis the part of the brain responsible for critical thinking, processing information and reasoning. Aside from this, the blue light stops the production of melatonin which is the chemical that helps us sleep. Establish rules, utilize parent locks and a great family rule is that there be no screens in bedrooms at bedtime. Leave them on the kitchen bench. The earlier in the year you give kids these rules, the easier it will be in the future.

· My last point would be to make sure your child has a healthy diet. Having fruit break at school has been a great way to encourage the students to eat fruit. There may be days when you might need to put more packets of processed foods like chips and treats in their lunch boxes, but there are some great healthy lunch box ideas online. I’m sure that just putting it in your search engine will give you a million ideas.

I look forward to working with our families this year.

Mrs March

Pastoral Care Worker