Tips to Help with Back to School

This is a mini-episode. We are going over tips to help alleviate the stress that comes during the back to school season. We know this can be a stressful time for our kids, which in turns makes it stressful for the parents. Our kids feel our emotions, so if we are stressed, they are feeling this. Practical tips on how to handle this will be shared. We also discuss getting back to a school schedule after the summer and how to handle being overwhelmed, knowing when to say no and why it’s important to break some of the rules during this time. I’m wishing everyone a great school year and if you need some extra help, you can book a call with me.Back-school-tips to help parents and kids#1 Tip: Take some time to check in with yourself and acknowledge your stress during this chaotic time of year. Your kids sense and feel your emotions. When you have the kid that doesn’t like school, you tend to be more reactive. Instead learn ways to listen to your kids using empathy.Try to think of times when you have to do things you really don’t want to do so you can understand how your child is feeling. Give yourself a few moments a day to really see what’s coming up for you and how you are feeling. It is important for kids to go through distress to some extent so they can learn to process the emotions and work through various challenges. Use storytelling to help. Let your kids know how it felt when you went through it as a kid or how you feel when you’re starting something new. It’s a great way to connect. Doing this will help your kids realize it is normal to feel this way.  Talk to your kids about how they feel in general about going back to school.  #2 Tip:  Get back on your sleep scheduleIf you can, start 10 days before the first day of school and start shifting their bed time back in small increments so it’s not detected by your kiddos.If you weren’t able to do the shift, adjust your mindset to know that the first week back is going to be a little rough. Try to avoid taking naps. Be prepared for big emotions until they adjust to their new sleep schedule. Use PARR, Pause, Acknowledge, Respond, Reflect to help with this. If you need more help with this, feel free to book a call with me to see if I can help. Once the sleep schedule gets back on track, things should start to calm down all around for everyone. # 3 Tip: Letting Go when you are feeling overwhelmedGoing back to school can be a stressful time for both parents and children. Dealing with all the emails and meet the teachers, and buying all the supplies can be so overwhelming.I wrote an article for Detroit that goes over how to let go when life gets overwhelming, linked below. Here are some tips from it. Really get clear on your priorities. Do a rear view mirror test, Author Light Watkins has a test where you envision yourself 10 years from now and ask yourself what do you really want to remember about right now in this day.This helps to really ask what do I need, which most mothers don’t sit with or ask themselves. It is so important for mothers to do this. Give yourself permission to break the rules when routines change, it’s hard for everyone.Maybe get more take out to get through the week, or know that the meals might not be the healthiest this week. It’s ok.Take some days off of work if you can to give yourself the time to ground and stay calm. Don’t make it the week to set rules about screentime, it’s ok to break some rules for this week.Plan check-ins with yourself on how things are going. Go over what worked and what didn’t, what is really important.Take the time to see what is really a priority in your week, and say no when things don’t work with your schedule. When you do this and become re