Back-To-School Support: Routines, Regulation, and Relationships!

New school year means new expectations, new peers, new teachers, new learning environment. So much new! It makes sense we see an increase in challenging behavior from our children: more tantrums, more whining, more rigidity, more separation anxiety, or maybe even more controlling tendencies due to the overwhelm of newness! I see these trends every school year inside my own home and have heard about it from hundreds of parents over the years. So I’ve put together a Back-To-School Bundle with tools and strategies that I believe will be the MOST helpful for parents. We can focus on strengthening connection and agency with our children so we can start off the school year with confidence and connection. 

Here are some quick tips for easing the back-to-school transition along with linked podcasts and free resources. If you’d like MORE support, check out my Back-To-School Bundle. As a blog reader, you can receive 50% by using the code: [Valid during August 2024 only!]. 

Think of the 3 R’s: Routines, Regulation, and Relationships 

Routines:

Insert some playfulness and connection into the daily routines during the morning prep time and bedtime wind down to decrease power struggles and increase cooperation. For ideas and practical examples check-out Episode 10 of the COR Conversations podcast: “Using Play to Increase Cooperation and Connection at Bedtime”.  

Visual supports are helpful ways to empower children with information and influence about their day! If life feels unpredictable, anxiety increases. If children can see and overview of their day in pictures, they are more able to process it and feel confident about what’s to come! Learn more about visual schedules in Episode 13 of COR Conversations: Ease Back-To-School Anxiety with Simple Visual Supports

Regulation:

Parental regulation matters! You are the tone setter for your home, so if you are nervous and sprialing into anxiety, your child is more likely to follow! Find ways to ground yourself in confidence that you and your child are capable of adapting to the changes! 

Check-out Episode 11 of my podcast “How Parental Anxiety and Reactivtivy Increases Your Child’s Anxiety… and what to do about it!” 

Help prepare with regulation tools and preview different emotions and experiences they may encounter their first few weeks at school through the power of shared reading! Books can serve as a springboard for discussion between children and adults because they introduce concepts through pictures and child friendly language! Download this free booklist today! 

Relationships:

Here are some ways to foster connection with our child to help ease separation anxiety that is an expected part of the back-to-school transition, especially if your child is attending school for the first time! 

Check-out Episode 56 of COR Conversations: 5 Ways To Support Your Child’s Separation Anxiety

Your relationship with your child is the “place” where they feel the safest, so it makes sense that they express their most vulnerable feelings once they are reconnected with you after school. If this you notice this happening during the first few weeks of school, check-out this podcast all about After School Meltdowns.

Bonus episodes:

What if my child’s school uses behavior charts?

How to foster home-school collaboration to benefit your child’s school year!

How to raise inclusive and kind children with Pranoo Kumar

Bullying: What parents can do when our children get bullied.

Need more support?  

If you’re looking for even more strategies to support your child during the back-to-school transition, don’t miss out on my Back-to-School Bundle. Packed with resources, it’s designed to help you and your child navigate this season with ease. Use the code “Backtoschool24” at checkout for 50%, valid through August 2024. Let’s start this school year with confidence and connection!