Our top 10 tips for starting the new school year successfully
After six weeks of lazy mornings, later nights, and active days, getting your little ones ready for the new school term probably seems like a tough struggle. If your children are eager to get back to school, you’re one of the lucky ones! For many parents, the start of a new school year can be a testing time.
If a smooth transition seems like an unreachable target, don’t panic! You’re not alone! There are lots of ways to gently ease kids back into a new school year successfully, helping to make September a month to focus on meeting new people, trying different things, and enjoying fresh challenges for both them and for you!
Lets get stuck into our top 10 quick tips:
1 - Talk about it!
As the summer holiday draws to a close, start talking about the prospect of the new term with your little one. Some children are counting down to the days to get back to the playground, but others will be sad to say goodbye to carefree days with no homework!
Discuss the positives about seeing their friends, making new friends, and entering a new and exciting year. A gradual mental build-up is less of a shock to everyone than last-minute action stations!
2 - Prepare!
There’s no doubt that the bedtime and morning routines have taken a hit over the summer. That’s fine, it’s what free time is all about! Don’t leave early nights and mornings until the last moment though, start getting them into their routine at least week beforehand.
Make sure new uniforms are ready and tried on before the first day of school. You can even time them to get into their uniforms as a harmless ploy (the first one gets to choose breakfast!). That’s one less thing for you to stress about when ‘Day One’ arrives.
3 - Try out a new hobby
There are ways of making a new term more exciting, especially if there are things to look forward to. Why not encourage your little one to take part in a new hobby? Once they realise that they can learn something fun and exhilarating, meet new friends and even become a world champion one day, they’ll be counting down the days to attend their new after-school/weekend activity.
Gymnastics is a fantastic sport with benefits that surpass physical activity alone. Aside from incorporating a wide range of skill sets including strength, flexibility, speed, balance coordination, power and discipline, there are also cognitive, emotional, and social benefits.
Learn more about booking our FREE Beth Tweddle Gymnastics taster sessions HERE
4 - Engage in different tasks
When children return to school, their days will be varied with a wide range of different tasks. Try to encourage your child(ren) to get involved in a range of different tasks on a daily basis to get them used to this kind of structure. If they’ve been glued to a screen for days on end, the transition is likely to be a shock to the system! Encourage activities like reading, writing, cooking, and playing throughout the day. It’s a fantastic way of helping them adapt to different tasks.
5 - Create a positive environment
We can all remember that end-of-summer feeling. Sunday night dread. Early mornings. Lessons and homework! It didn’t exactly scream positivity. BUT, you can help to change that story by encouraging positive dialogue with your little ones about school. That could mean discussing the things they’re excited about, the things they’d like to achieve during the new school year, and the things they’d like to do better than last year!
6 - Promote healthy habits
While the summer holidays can be heavily activity-oriented, healthy eating can often fall by the wayside. With the new school year starting, boost your child’s mental and physical wellbeing with plenty of healthy foods and low-sugar snacks! A well-balanced diet is essential to support cognitive function and will greatly assist their return to a learning environment.
7 - Encourage independence
Despite their love of doing their own thing during the holidays, younger children can easily become overly attached to their parents during lengthy periods together. In some cases, it can make the return to school a challenging time for them. (It can also be a really tough time for parents!)
To make the transition more seamless, try to encourage a bit of independence. That can mean letting them spend time with friends at their homes or in a safe environment. Maybe they can take on a few chores around the house and earn some pocket money. These are all great ways of teaching your little ones how to enjoy a little freedom (and it might even save you some cleaning time too!)
8 - Incorporate physical activity
Chances are that your child has had a highly active summer with more physical activity than usual. If, however, physical activity hasn’t been at the top of the agenda throughout the summer, try to encourage playing, walking or other physical activity a week or two before their return.
Games in the park can always be great fun, particularly if family and friends are involved and will get them used to interacting socially with groups ahead of the bustling playground that they’re likely to meet in their first few weeks back.
9 - Visit the school
If your little ones are moving to a new (big!) school, it’s definitely worth your time to have a couple of trial runs. If you’ll be driving them to school, make sure you travel at the same time to help understand traffic patterns. (No one wants to be late on the first day!)
If they’re venturing into independent travel for the first time, it’s important to ensure they’re fully confident with the journey. Taking a trial run together is highly recommended for both you and them, there’s no joy to be had in panicking that they’ve caught the wrong bus! Whilst their friends might insist that they’re confident with the route, it’s always sensible to encourage independence. That way, you’ll all have peace of mind.
10 - Look after yourself!
When all’s said and done, you need to ensure that you’re taking care of yourself, so you’re not frazzled before the term even starts! If you’re not functioning at 100%, your little ones are less likely to either.
Make sure you have some valuable you time doing something you enjoy. Reading a book, taking a bath, going for a walk, or taking a yoga class, they’re all valuable self-care ideas that help you recalibrate and prepare for the new term. After all, you’re about to experience change too!
In Summary…
We hope these tips have given you some quick ideas of how you can make the most of the new school year starting, and hopefully alleviated some of the dread that many of us feel at the end of August/start of September. With a little help, and some re-imagining of the new school year, we hope that it can be an enjoyable, exciting time for both the children, and for you.
Visit us at Beth Tweddle Gymnastics!
Beth Tweddle Gymnastics provides opportunities for children to experience the joy of gymnastics in a world-class environment, surrounded by welcoming, professional coaches. Whether your child has never tried gymnastics before, or they’ve been practicing for years, Beth Tweddle Gymnastics is a great place for kids of any age or ability.
From babies and toddlers in Baby Stars learning to start developing movement and social skills, to Gym Starswho learn the basic elements of gymnastics and power of friendships, all the way through to the Academywho aim to further develop gymnastics skills, BTG have a variety of classes to suit all age groups, our objective is to inspire a generation of youngsters with a captivating sport.
Take a look at free taster sessionsnear you and drop us a visit.
Please get in touch to ask any questionsor get booked into a taster session!
