Back to School Tips
Prepare with on-the-go breakfasts
- Cream cheese on a bagel or whole-grain toast with fruit and milk.
- Fruit smoothies. Use your child’s favorite fruit combinations along with some orange juice, milk or soymilk and yogurt.
- Hard-boiled eggs with fruit or juice, whole-grain bread, milk. (One mom suggests boiling several every few days and marking the shell so the kids can always have them as quick snacks and/or as part of a meal.)
- Breakfast parfait. Layer yogurt, fruit and granola in a tall glass.
- Have left-over dinner for breakfast if your child doesn’t like breakfast food. Or make a “pizza” with half a bagel or English muffin, tomato sauce and cheese.
Get Organized
Have clothes, including socks and underwear, ready for each day of the week. You can even use a slotted organizer with a slot for each day, Monday – Friday. Let kids choose their outfits for the week on Sunday afternoon and put them into the slots.
Get Ready
Prepare children for the first day of school by:
- Visiting the school, if possible.
- Meeting the teacher, if possible.
- Getting a supply list and buying supplies.
- Having a good attitude toward school (your child will pick up on this).
- Inviting a classmate over to play prior to the first day, if possible.
- Getting school rules and dress code. Review with your child.
- Getting involved! Attend back-to-school night and join PTA.
Don’t Procrastinate
- Make sure all immunizations are up-to-date (see our immunization article for more information).
- Get sports physicals now.
- Go over safe routes to school, if your child is walking.
- Go over school bus safety:
- Stay 10 giant steps away from road while waiting
- While getting on or off, tell children if they drop something to tell the driver before bending down to pick it up.
- Remind children to look to the right before they step off the bus in case a car tries to sneak by.
- Teach your child to secure loose drawstrings of other objects that might get caught on the bus.
- Teach children the danger zone area, 10 ft. around the bus, where the bus driver can’t see them.
- Go over rules of proper bus behavior with your children.