I am so excited to share with you five tips that help ease both you and your children back to starting a new school year. These proactive ideas aim to lessen stress and establish doable habits and patterns for positive school days ahead for both parents and children!

With summer coming to an end in the next week or so, my children have mixed emotions about starting back. Mostly on the “I don’t want to go back to school” end of the spectrum haha! As parents, we can have heightened emotions as well when thinking about schedules, homework, after school activities, and more. That’s why I wanted to share with you some ideas for making the transition back to school as smoothly as possible.

Night Before Prep:

Some days the last thing you want to do is work that can be done the next day — but prepping things the night before saves SO much time and energy and lowers stress on mornings that are already fast-paced. For us, night prep includes laying clothes out, making lunches, making sure all homework is completed and signed, and backpacks are ready. For teens, asking them before they go to bed if they’ve done these things is best for their age group.

Charging Station:

With the use of computers, tablets, and even phones at school now, I encourage you to set up a place where all devices are “based” at night to charge fully. Every night, our girl’s phones “go to sleep” in our kitchen, plugged up alongside their computers. It’s an excellent way to keep the devices in a common area and not in kids/teens bedrooms. We do not have anything fancy, but have found these multiple charger plug-ins so handy! We love them!

Easy Breakfasts:

This one has been a game-changer for us over the years; we do not have time on weekdays to cook a big, hot breakfast. So, we’ve come up with some easy, healthy breakfast instead, including our current favorite yogurt parfaits + fruit, perfect bars, and breakfast shakes. My husband and I enjoy “Perfect Bars” too; you can check them out here. We’ve learned over the years that having a set breakfast time allows growing teenagers to configure having time to eat breakfast into their morning routine. Otherwise, they may not end up getting breakfast or hurrying to eat just a few bites before walking out the door.

Thought For The Day:

We are not 100% successful at doing this every day, but when we do, it is special. Have 2-3 minute time where you share a Bible verse, encouraging thought, or prayer time before you walk out the door. There are several resources you can implement for this tip. For younger children, we like to read from The Jesus Storybook Bible found here. As they get older, Jesus Calling (found here) is a wonderful read and playing podcasts to listen to while they eat breakfast. My favorite for older teens is Beth Moore’s Living Proof series.

Calendaring:

With various schedules, activities, and school programs, it is crucial to be in communication daily with your spouse and children about the plan for the day and even the week ahead. My teen girls have their agendas, and my husband and I share calendars weekly as well as, make updates via email. I am a sucker for paper and jotting down appointments on paper calendars, whereas my husband is on Google cal. Just discussing our plans or writing them down (or typing for him), sets clear expectations for the week ahead. And our children feel at peace too, knowing what is in store for the week. If you’re looking for awesome wall calendar, I have this one here and love it!

I hope these five tips will help you as the parent to help ease both you and your children back into school. Transitions can be tough at times so putting these ideas into action will help contribute a more smooth start for your family.

What are some ways you’ve found that help your family transition back to school?

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