Story By: Tiffany White
Does your child get anxious about starting the new school year? Try out these tips from Alex Farmer-Jucoff, Clinical Psychologist and Lead Behavioral Health Therapist at St. Joe’s.
- Use the last few weeks of summer to start getting back into school routines.
- Set consistent bedtime and morning routines before the first day of school.
- Talk about plans for how the child will be taken to school and come home (i.e. car pick-up, bus, daycare, etc.).
- Create a list of your child’s favorite songs that can be listened to while getting ready in the mornings or on the drive to school.
- Make it a fun activity to prepare school supplies, allowing the children to pick their backpack or colors of folders/notebooks.
- Ask about your child’s favorite breakfast and lunch items to add into their lunch box.
- Having honest and open conversations with your child about returning to school.
- Listening and understanding what your child is feeling about starting school.
- Visit the school before the first day to help your child get familiar with where they’ll start each morning and where you’ll pick them up. Also, if it is a new school, request a tour prior to the first day.
Interested in learning more about how we can help your child? Message us at bhsoinfo@sjkids.org.
This post was supported by funds made available by the Kentucky Department for Public Health’s Office of Health Equity from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for STLT Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce, under RFA-OT21-2103. The content of this post are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of or endorsement by the Kentucky Department for Public Health or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.