Although buying our kids new school supplies may help tip the scale towards eager anticipation for back to school, it's much more important to help children to prepare for their school year by
making sure they're well rested. You can help your children get off to a good start by readjusting their sleep schedule before school begins.
While the first few weeks of school are exciting, they are also stressful as your child adjusts to new experiences, people and classes. Being well rested can help children make the transition, cutting down on some of the stress and ensuring that they are ready to face the challenges, to focus and to learn.
During the long summer break, many children have gotten used to sleeping in simply "because it's vacation." Family trips and summer activities often throw off the schedules of even the most
diligent parents. Children may have gotten into the pattern of staying up late and sleeping late. If this problem isn't corrected before school starts, children are likely to struggle as they
adjust to an earlier schedule.
Parents can help re-set their children's internal clocks and correct this problem so they're ready for school. Here's how:
I suggest that for a week before school starts, you move up bedtime by 15-30 minutes. But simply having children go to sleep earlier won't solve the problem as long as they are still getting up late -- it's also important that you consistently wake your kids up earlier. To motivate your children to get out of bed, it often helps if you create a reason for them to have to get up in the morning. It would be ideal to have them spend time outside -- the early morning sunshine helps to reset the internal clock.
The first week that you wake your children up earlier can cause them to be tired and sleep deprived -- however, if you continue to firmly enforce the wake-up time, your child should begin to naturally fall asleep earlier. By beginning this process a week before school starts, your kids will have the advantage of being well rested and ready to learn, starting from the very first day of school.
When kids have trouble getting out of bed on their own in the morning, are grouchy, and/or have irritable or moody behavior during the day, it's very likely that they need more sleep. Insufficient
sleep affects mood, immunity and the ability to learn. Ideally, children should consistently go to bed at the same time every night.
Even on the weekends, bedtime should not vary by more than one hour a night or a total of two hours for the entire weekend. If it does, you're setting your child up for a sort of jet lag when Monday morning rolls around.
Before school starts:
In addition, here are some sleep prep tips that may help with the back to school transition:
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