Have you ever had this thought?
You buy a Powerball ticket and discover you won the jackpot! You’ve made it!! You can quit your job, pay off the mortgage, buy the car you’ve always wanted, and retire to some Caribbean island. I’m sure you have – I have.
Even though we dream that just doing that one thing would set us up for life, we understand that deep down, success comes from doing the routine things: Getting up every morning, going to work, doing our job well, and making good financial and life decisions. What we accomplish in life is due to focusing on routine.
If that is the fundamental way to have the best life possible, shouldn’t we want our children to attain that skill? Shouldn’t we engage with our children to help them develop that crucial habit? What are some concrete steps a parent can do to guide their children?
The best news is that you have a great partner to work with – your child’s school. The end of summer means the end of unstructured, lazy days for your children. No more sleeping in, playing all day, snacking whenever they want. The summer free-for-all is coming to a screeching halt. The routine and rigor of schoolwork is here.
As a former math teacher and principal, I’m no stranger to helping young people get back “into the routine” of school success. There are some simple things that you can do as a parent to help your child get back into the swing of things. Who knows, these things might also help you!
Demystify the New School Year
First, have a conversation with your child about the new school year. They may have a lot of anxiety about the beginning of school. As children progress through each grade, new challenges confront them. New teachers, new schedules…the dreaded locker combination lock. These situations can lead to avoidance behaviors by your child.
Next, do some research to learn the school’s schedule. Find out when the school day starts and ends. Ask about breakfast and lunch times and options. Get a copy of your child’s schedule. Go to the Open House/Meet the Teachers Night. Read the Student Handbook to understand the school’s expectations for their students.
Once you have an understanding of what the new school year will look like, have another conversation with your child to set up a schedule or routine to help them get and stay organized. This schedule should include things like regular bedtimes, mealtimes, study times, and fun/free times.
Prioritize Zzzzs
School-age children require a lot of sleep to perform well in school and stay healthy. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends 9-12 hours of sleep for elementary age children. According to pediatric sleep specialist Vaishal Shah, MD, children with appropriate sleep show improvement in the following:
· Attention
· Behavior
· Learning
· Memory
· Emotional regulation
· Mental health
· Physical health
· Overall quality of life
Using that recommendation, work backwards from the starting time of school to determine bedtime for your student. One other big item – make sure that bedtime really is sleep time, not lay in bed and be on phone/tablet/tv time. An easy way to avoid that scenario is to make sure that electronic device chargers are in your bedroom. That way you know the devices are not in little hands!
Make Healthy Eating Choices with your Children
Regular, well-balanced meals are also critical for children in school. Most schools provide opportunities for healthier breakfast and lunch meals, but the evening meal can present challenges for parents. With after-school sports and activities, many times dinner ends up being a “grab-and-go” fast-food affair. Work to establish a regular dinner mealtime. Make the meal a healthy, sit-down family time. It’s a great way to encourage regular engagement with your children.
Encouraging Healthy Study Habits
Another important routine to establish for your student is a scheduled time and place to study or complete assignments at home after school. The amount of time will increase as the child progresses through grade levels. A good rule of thumb is that a child should be able to study at home for about ten minutes per grade level (e.g. 1st grade – 10 minutes, 2nd grade – 20 minutes, etc.).
Make sure the study location is in a quiet, distraction-free, and well-lit location in the house. Also, make sure it is a location you can easily supervise. Check on your child’s progress. If you observe your child struggling a lot, that probably means that you need to have a conversation with your child’s teacher to discover the root of the learning issue.
Make Room for Fun!
Finally, as the proverb says – “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” plan times for your child to just cut loose and be a child. A great time to schedule time for this might be shortly after getting home from school for the day. Your child has been in the school routine all day; a break will allow them to unwind and relax. That time gives you an opportunity to get the dinner meal prepared and will help them to be ready to settle back into the evening routine.
By the way, a little hidden benefit of working on creating a schedule for your child is that it helps create a routine for you! Having that routine will make you more efficient and maybe have a little more down time for yourself.
Who knows? You might even have time to go buy that winning Powerball ticket!
