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Back-To-School Preparation Tips For Parents

Come June, it's time for back-to-school in India after a month+ long summer vacation. It's the time when children ease out and enjoy freedom. Absolutely no hurrying to school and no restrictions. As the summer vacations come to an end parents need to prepare their children to get back to school.

Children feel confident and competent when parents stay cool, optimistic and supportive. Though it is a bit challenging task for parents particularly for moms, a little pre-planning and organization would be helpful in preparing the child for getting back to school for a fresh start in the new academic year.
Most of the schools in India, particularly CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) schools in India, start the new academic session / year before summer vacation. Textbooks and notebooks are put for sale in a special counter in most of the schools after the promotion meeting. Here are some useful back-to-school tips for parents for a fresh start for the school reopening day:

Shop the 'Back-to-school' items

Make a list of school items to be shopped before the school reopens. The list of items would be more for primary class children. Shop the school items before the school reopens as it creates interest in the children to get back to school on the reopening day. These energy-bubbles get too excited on possessing new cute-looking colorful things. And they take pride in carrying these new items on the reopening day and showing these to their friends. You can include the following items in your 'back-to-school' shopping list:
  • Colorful / attractive and personalized / tagged backpacks.
  • Cute-looking / colorful lunch-box and water bottle.
  • Cute-looking / colorful / attractively shaped stationery items that include pencil case (box), pencil / pen, eraser (rubber), sharpener (mender), ruler (scale) and non-toxic crayons / color pencils.
  • School uniform, shoes and socks. Buy these a week to 10 days before the school reopens and not before the school closes for vacation as children grow fast.
  • Umbrella / raincoat as monsoon follows summer in India.
Getting ready for school reopening day will not be complete without shopping the school items. Let you child get involved in 'back-to-school' shopping as this giving them immense pleasure and it is a motivating factor for them to get back to school. However shopping depends on one's affordability. So plan according to your budget and do not go beyond your budget.

Remind your child about the school reopening date

It's normal for a child to get lethargic during the vacation and the body refuses to get back to normal routine life for a few days after the school reopens. So keep reminding your child at least from a week to 10 days in advance and prepare them mentally that the count down for the reopening date of the school has begun and they have to get back to their routine school life after the long break.

Get back the body clock to usual school bedtime and wake-up time

At least a week to 10 days before the school reopens, let your child get back to the daily school sleep time and morning wake up time so that the child gets back to the school sleep time and wake up. This helps to avoid stressful mornings in the beginning of the new session.

Get the holiday home work done

Most of the schools across India assign holiday home work to the students so that they do not get out of the track from studies. Keep reminding the child to do the holiday homework at least from 10 days prior to the reopening date. At the same time do not pressurize the child in doing the home work and do not create a fear psychology in them saying that 'teacher will punish, if you don't do the home work'. If parents keep using such words child will slowly develop disinterest in studies and hatred towards the teacher.

So avoid such words and create a positive attitude in the child's mind for doing home work. Review the holiday homework sheet / school diary and ensure that the child has completed the homework by the time the school opens. At the same time do not put pressure on him / her, if he / she doesn't do the work.

Keep them away from TV viewing and smartphone using

In general too much TV viewing and too much using of smartphone will have an adverse affect on the nervous system / central nervous system of the child. As much as possible, keep the child away from too much of TV viewing and too much using of smartphone. If the child is used to viewing TV endlessly, slowly reduce the viewing time and minimize it to 15 - 20 minutes per day and finally zero down as the school reopens.

Get back to the school breakfast and lunch timings

A week or 10 days before the school reopens reintroduce routine school timings for breakfast and lunch so that the child slowly gets adjusted to the school timings without difficulty.

Help the child in personal care

3-4 days before the school reopening day, get the child's hair cut or trimmed for a fresh look on the face. The day before the school reopens, ensure that you have cut the finger nails and toe nails and the child looks neat and trim.

Gear up one day before the school reopens

Make a check-list / to-do list few days in advance. The day before the school reopens ensure that you are done with the check list. This would be really helpful particularly for working moms as it helps in avoiding last minute hurrying.

A little preparation and a bit of organised work before the school reopening day would help a lot in getting back your child to the normal school routine with ease.

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