The countdown to the new school term is on.
The long summer days and slightly later bedtimes will soon be a thing of the past until next year. While many of you will be well prepared in terms of school books and uniforms. This article below gives some really useful tips on getting not just your child ready for the new school term but the entire family.
Here are a few of the top tips.
- A week or two before the school year begins, children should start going to bed and waking up as they would on school days -- it can take a while for their bodies to adjust to non-summer hours.
- Get children on a regular exercise program or into an active hobby to create good habits and burn off extra energy
- Take your children to cultural attractions like museums or historical sites the week before school starts. Get them thinking about subjects they'll be tackling in the year ahead.
- Encourage your children to read a book in the week or two before school begins. Ease them into quiet time, while giving them a jumpstart on refreshing their reading skills.
Read more for additional practical tips to get you through the first few weeks back
Here is another great article from Independent.ie with lots of tips to get you from first day back to Mid - Term break
- Sarah Reynolds of organisedchaos.ie says a few small adjustments can make a big difference when it comes to being organised for school.
- Making sure that children get the right nutrition is important and Dr Marian O'Reilly, Chief Specialist in Nutrition with safefood.eu says we should start focusing on this before the new school term starts.
- Siobhan Berry founder of mummycooks.com has recently published her second book, Lunchbox Made Easy. She says children often don't have enough time to eat healthily at school and is urging the Government to extend lunch times to ensure that healthy eating policies are enforced. But in the meantime, she has some ideas which are quick and uncomplicated but most importantly are full of goodness.
- Stella O'Malley, psychotherapist and author of Bully-Proof Kids and Cotton Wool Kids, says children often feel anxious about returning to school, particularly if they had a negative experience in the past, so it's important to address these issues before the term starts.
- As head of community for mummypages.ie Laura Erskine knows what Irish parents want when it comes to going back to school and she says making simple changes in the run up to the first day helps to make the transition easier.