Back To School Tips

As the new school year kicks into high gear, there are many little pointers that can make the experience safer and more beneficial for all concerned. Let‘s look at a few of these back-to-school tips:

1. Plan effectively. Develop a routine where you take a few minutes the night before and decide what you will need to take with you the next day. Lay out clothing so those decisions are already made when you wake up. Get up early enough to avoid rushing. You won’t forget things, and you won’t be scrambling to keep from being late. Leaving just a few minutes early saves back considerable stress.

2. Look both ways before crossing the street. Unlike England, where there are actually directions on the ground asking you to look left and right before you cross, we have to take responsibility to instruct our children to carefully observe the road before walking across it, especially at busy intersections.. Most of us remember our parents directing us to “look both ways” – it’s a tradition that continues to make sense and protect against unnecessary danger.

3. Watch out for the weight and size of back packs. Kids these days often load up their back packs with books, study materials, and other kid stuff. Test the weight of your child’s back pack – it is common that children struggle with overstuffed back packs and risk injury, so take the responsibility to monitor this often-overlooked hazard. A back pack should be no more than ten per cent of the child’s body weight – more than that creates the potential for spinal damage.

4. Pace yourself on homework. Many students are very efficient with their homework, others not so much. Help your child develop a rhythm where the homework is done properly and at a reasonable pace. Help him or her organize so there is a game plan for completing all assignments without undue stress or hassle. If your child resists doing homework, make the case that people do homework throughout their lives, and that this is not only required for the course of study they are taking, but also as basic life training they will benefit from going forward.

5. Develop checkpoints along the way. Many children have challenges dealing with one or more of their subjects, finding others easier for them. If you help them break down their assignments into smaller pieces, they may seem less overwhelming to them, and your child will become more enthusiastic about taking small but certain steps in the direction of better understanding. We ask a lot of our students intellectually, and few are gifted in every subject – give them a helping hand in those that are less natural for them by creating little milestones that mark partial success, instead of making them complete everything before they get any gratification.
6. Kill the monster while it’s small. This expression means that we need to notice problems and issues early, so they don’t snowball into much bigger problems before they are addressed. Missing a single homework may not be the biggest deal in the world, but if a child realizes he or she can get away with it, then there will be more misses and before you know it, a bad habit has developed. Squash that tendency early in the process, by observing the results and consistency your child creates, and encourage a willingness to maintain that standard. Again, this is important life training that transcends the value of the particular subject matter – it’s a way to generate good work habits which will lead to success in any endeavor they choose.
Some students find school easy to handle, others do not – but it’s no indicator of intelligence overall, just a way to measure some of the key elements of education. Every child has his or her own unique positive qualities – help your child learn by following a few simple guidelines, and the process will be less painful and more productive. Happy learning!