Is it just me or do summers seem to fly by these days? As a parent you spend May and June scrambling around trying to figure out which camps to put the kids in, what to do when they close at 4pm and which sporting activities won’t suck the life out of you to attend 3x a week. THEN someone says (in July I might add) “we’d better start thinking about back to school plans”. Really?
Personally I feel that my summer has just begun however as parents we’re built to plan, plan and plan for our kids. So here are some tips to keep in mind over the rest of the summer to help ease your child’s transition back to school this Fall (and yours!):
15 minutes a day – doesn’t seem like a lot does it? But if you sit down 1:1 with your child each day and read or do school-based activities it will help keep them on track (it works out to over 14 hours through the summer!)
Be Creative – kids love to be engaged in activities. If you have the time (and energy) try to think of some cool activities that promote learning.
Be Prepared – next thing you know its August 25th and you are scrambling to figure out your new reality with buses, entry bells, and lunches. It can’t hurt for you to take a peek at the curriculum expectations for your child’s new grade. Find them here for Ontario. It also has a Parents tab where you can find more juicy tidbits to support your kids.
Be Calm – if you get worked up and start bringing your back to school anxieties in the picture, your kids will feel it. It’s easy to have flashbacks, good and bad, to our September days as kids. Let your kids experience their own feelings, even if it is anxiety, be calm your kids will know it’s going to be okay.
Don’t forget to take that ever important ‘first day of school’ picture so they can look back and laugh about what they wore that day – I know I get a kick of out mine (and so do my kids!).
That's me on the right on my first day of JK!
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