Back to School

It’s hard to believe that summer is almost over. Are you looking for a few tips to ease the transition back to school, or to make your child’s first experience with school a bit less stressful? If so, read on!

Visit the School

  • Attend every open house (bring their school supplies at the summer open house)
  • Visit the school during special events (look up your child’s future schools – you can get them familiar with the buildings many years ahead of time)
  • Play on the playground during the summer – this is especially helpful for younger kids (Thanks Ashley!)

Streamline Mornings

  • Have a few easy breakfast options
  • If your child’s bedroom is on a different level from the kitchen, have them bring their school clothes downstairs with them (some kids even like to pick out their clothes the night before)
  • Set a timer for when they need to start getting ready (leave lots of extra time the first week)
  • Get their backpack packed (minus lunch) the night before

Drop-off or Busing

  • Make sure your child understands how they will get to and from school and role-play what they should do if an adult or another child tells them to do the wrong thing
  • If your child is younger and is going to ride the bus, you can write their bus number on their hand (Thanks Carissa!) or tie a tag to their backpack (car rider, bus rider with bus #, etc.)

The First Day

  • Let your child pick out a special food – their favorite dinner, snack or breakfast food
  • If your child is nervous about their first day of school, you could try asking them if they want to have a “happy goodbye” (smiling, hugging, calm) or a “sad goodbye” (crying, clinging, upset)
  • Help your child find something to wear that makes them feel brave or confident (Thanks Allison!)

Product suggestions

One of our favorite books before my daughter started 4K:

Our leakproof lunchbox solution:



I hope everyone has a great school year!