And So It Begins...

Back To School | Summit Health and Wellness Center

As the school year kicks off its important to be taking steps to make sure your student gets a good start to the year.  Here are a few tips from us at Summit Health and Wellness to help get you off to a great start.

 
1. Get into a good sleep routine

Sleep is vastly underrated in our society.  As we push ourselves to get the most out of each day, our sleep often ends up suffering.  Technology, activities, TV, and social media all have a way of keeping us from getting the sleep that we need.  Although research suggests that a lack of sleep doesn't impact our cognitive function as much as we think, it's our emotional function that can be more impaired.  This means that children may struggle more to regulate their emotional responses and have more difficulty coping with stress.  This could be observed by others in mood, attitude, or behavior.  If you were to look in the DSM-5, sleep disturbance is one of the most common symptoms across all diagnoses.

 
2. Communicate with your child or teen early and often about how school is going

A lot of kids are not going to volunteer information about school.  Struggles with school work and social issues can go unidentified because of a lack of communication due to feelings of embarrassment and shame.  Often when kids finish a long school day, the last thing they want to do is recap everything that they did throughout the day and open ended questions can feel overwhelming and frustrating. Try asking your kids more direct questions about their day such as:

What was your favorite part of the day?

When was a time that you felt challenged?

What was something new that you learned today?

Who are some of the friends that you played with/ hung out with today?

 
3. Work on developing a family calendar to organize events and activities

When school gets started we often kick into overdrive with sports practices, piano lessons, dance, doctors appointments, school functions, and other activities.  It can be very helpful to have one calendar that everybody can refer to. A few possible ideas could be a physical calendar in a central place in the home where everyone can see and add to it. Or a google calendar that each family member can access on the go from their phone, tablet, or computer.  Whatever fits your family's style, getting everyone organized can help improve communication and understanding.As the school year kicks off its important to be taking steps to make sure your student gets a good start to the year.  Here are a few tips from us at Summit Health and Wellness to help get you off to a great start.