Back-to-school stress is real, experts say. Here's how parents can help ease kids' anxiety.
It's back to school season and families across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are shifting into gear to get kids ready for another year in the classroom.
Here are ways for parents to prepare for some end-of-summer challenges, like anxiety over the first day of school, earlier bedtime routines and cellphone bans.
Restarting the schoolyear routine
The countdown to school is on for Sarah Mathews, a mother of three from Bloomingdale, New Jersey.
"They're sleeping like teenagers. So I'm up three hours before them, but they get up. They have their breakfast, they do a little screen time. Then we try to get them out of the house," she said. "I can't wait to get back into routine. I work from home, so it has been difficult when they're not at camp during the day."
Mathews said rebuilding her kids' school routines starts with waking them up early, but it doesn't have to be a difficult change.
"We'll start waking them up 15 minutes earlier every day until we get to school zone," she said.
Dr. Richard Waldron, a clinical psychologist in Bergen County, recommends parents start talking with their kids about the upcoming school year and what they should expect.
"The whole thing is getting back into a routine and structure, which is really, really healthy for kids," Waldron said. "Try to make it positive and fun. If they're expressing a little nervousness or anxiety about it, you've got to tell them that this is normal."
Setting screen time limits
Experts recommend limiting screen time for kids of all ages, especially older kids whose school districts may have recently banned cellphones.
"Those cellphones are not going to be there. So they might need to practice, you know, have a couple of hours a day where there's no screen time on the phones. And that would be a good thing to do now," Waldron said.
New York schools are enacting a cellphone ban this year, under a new state law meant to eliminate classroom distractions.
Experts suggest starting the reset at least one week before the first day of school. That way, kids and parents can ease into the new routine without a frenzy on Day 1.
Mathews, meanwhile, can't wait for her kids to get back in the swing of things.
"In the summer, everything just kind of goes out the window because [of] playdates and cheer practices. So it'd be nice to get to sit down at the table and have dinner every night again, and be able to just slow things down," she said.
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