5 Tips to get you and your your child ready for the first day back at school

The first day back at school is looming and you have either heard lots of moaning about it or lots of “I’m bored!” statements! So how do you prepare your child for the first day of school or their first day back, here are some tips:

·         Get organised

Get all of your back to school shopping done this week. As an incentive, schedule your back to school shopping trip one morning. Write out a list and for the older kids, give them a budget to work with. Tell them they need to get what is on the list but stay within their budget. Remember there are lots of sales on at the moment. Go look at Woolworths, Jet, Ackermans, Pick n Pay and Edgars for your white shirts rather than buying them from the school uniform shops. And, don’t forget to label!!

·         Get back into a routine

Start easing back into a bed time routine, so by Tuesday night there are no major tantrums about having to go back to bed early. This will also help with the breakfast routine and getting up earlier.

Also remember, times are going to be a little different at school, so find out when your child has their snack and try to reprogram their tummies.

·         Set up a homework schedule

Find a place in your house that is free from distractions and TV and set this up as the homework area. Also set up a timetable for homework. Remember, this is the work that needs to be reinforced and the teacher is checking for understanding here.

·         Lunchbox Prep

Make up a weekly program for different lunches that you can do in lunchboxes. Peanut butter sandwiches can become very boring after a while! Look out for our lunchbox plan a little later this week!

·         Create a ‘Launch Pad’

So, when homework is done, place it all back into the bag, check to make sure everything that is needed is in the bag, or the launch pad so that it is ready for the next morning!