Back-to-school tips

18 January 2021

Encourage, support and celebrate your kids!

DON’T HAVE A BAD-HAIR DAY

My best piece of advice is for boys: Don’t let your mum talk you into a haircut the day before going back to school. And if you have no choice, don’t let your mum do it.

This advice stems from years of being on the wrong end of the clippers at the wrong time. I am still haunted by memories of being stuck in a long line of sweaty schoolboys waiting for the two-minute ‘butcher-cut’ by the barber, only for your mum to ‘tidy it up’ with the kitchen scissors when you got home.

It always ended badly (with the dreaded bowl cut). And then you had to face the standard first-day-back photo on the front verandah and then six hours of relentless ridicule from classmates.

So please, back-to-schoolers, book in your haircut now for mid-January. Give it time to settle. Or you’ll have to live with the consequences for many years to come. – Dean S

BE INVOLVED IN SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

My theory always was if you want your kids to have an interest in something, involve yourself in it, too. My wife and I always tried to help out at the school with reading, music, sports days, attending chapel services and concerts – behind the scenes as well as in front.

Same with the swimming club. We just didn’t sit in the stands; we did timekeeping, manned the barbecue and tuck shop and did working bees. The footy club, too: umpiring, running water, tuck shop, strapping.

The investment made in them as children has paid off. They had a great school ethic. Now they have a great work ethic. – Darryl

BE PREPARED AND GIVE GRACE

As a mum of a child whose firstborn started school in 2020, here are my tips:

• Go shoe shopping in mid-January. The closer to the start of school, the busier it gets.
• Buy contact paper early!
• Take it slow. Give yourself plenty of grace to get into a new rhythm. Don’t overload your week with lots of activities or weekend adventures.
• Be prepared for emotions. Day one, your child may skip into school and then two weeks later they’ll be clinging to your leg and crying. That’s okay. Give it time and your child will adjust.
• Fill up the freezer with homemade lunchbox-friendly snacks toward the end of the school holidays.
• Do ‘lunchbox’ practice with your child to try and gauge how much they really eat. Concentrate on small portions, ensure containers are easy to open and food is easy to eat.
• Think sustainably: try to source a stainless-steel lunchbox and drink bottle for a better environmental and healthy choice.
• Use the last few weeks of the holidays to get organised and establish your routines: regular wake-up and bedtimes, ensuring uniforms fit and are labelled clearly, practise walking to school if it’s a new one.
• Allow your child to have some ‘down time’ after school. – Julia

PERSONAL CHEER SQUAD

School is just not the same as when I was a child. Electronic whiteboards have replaced chalkboards, and tablets used to be what I was given for a headache! School might have changed, but a positive and encouraging adult who believes in the student remains a powerful influence over, not only academic achievements, but all of life. Be your students’ cheer squad. Encourage, support, stand alongside of and celebrate even the little accomplishments.

Worn-out school shoes are signs of a physically active child. Reward them by going outside and playing together.

There should always be room in a school bag for a ball.

Success comes from effort.

Act at school today so that in 10 years’ time you look back and say, “They were the best days of my life.” – Dean C

KEEP IT COOL

I never used to make that much of a big deal about going back to school for my boys. If I downplayed it, they didn’t seem to feel any pressure, even when starting at new schools.

• Don’t assume school uniforms will still fit for the new school year.
• Get in early to buy all your school supplies.
• Don’t load kids down too much with a heavy backpack on day one.
• Make sure you read the ‘back to school’ notices carefully.
• If your kids are starting at a new school, consider a trial school run the week before school starts. This will help with timing, planning the route and getting the feel of the school grounds ready for those first-day jitters.
• Talk up the first day of school as a new adventure, the opportunity to make new friends and lots of new things to learn.
• Above all, try very hard not to cry. If you think you might feel a bit emotional sending your kids back to school, promise yourself a little ‘me’ time of coffee, cake – and tissues. – Carolyn

   

ORGANISATION THROUGH EXAMPLE

We are a family with children at primary school and two parents who work full-time so:

• I get up early to have lunchboxes packed before the kids get up.
• We do all our clothes washing on the weekend and have invested more money into making sure the kids have enough uniforms for the week.
• I set aside time on the weekend to prepare lunchbox food. We have some special dietary requirements, so I make quiches, mini-sausage rolls and sometimes sushi for their lunches. It’s then quick and easy to pack in the mornings. We have a ‘one packet per day’ rule as I don’t like single-use packaging and am not a fan of the high sugar and preservative content of most school snack foods. So, we bake our own.
• We try to avoid the stress of over-scheduling. We limit after-school activities, and also ensure we have Friday afternoons free for ‘chill time’ at the end of our busy week.

My kids often hear me say: “Your lack of planning is not my emergency.” They know that if they suddenly realise at bedtime about homework due the next day, we are not going to drop everything to get it done. It’s hard sometimes when they are upset, but it teaches them to plan and take responsibility for their workload. – Lauren

STAYING CALM IN THE CHAOS

Over the years I tried to be organised, to plan and prepare ahead, to give my children healthy lunches and to volunteer at school when I could. Mostly it worked and sometimes it didn’t, depending on the myriad of factors that make up family and work life.

However, what always worked was staying calm, even when either or both children were stressed or emotional about something, had forgotten an important piece of homework or event, traffic was crawling, or the football game was about to start without them.

I wasn’t 100 per cent successful at staying calm, but when I managed it, the kids calmed down as well, they could think through solutions to whatever the issue was, or just accept what was going to happen and figure out how to best deal with it. This approach definitely helped calm any chaos or confusion, and gave us all a much better start, or finish, to the day. – Simone

GET INTO GEAR FOR SENIOR YEARS

I am a recent school-leaver, so my tips are mainly for students doing years 11 and 12. These are my top three pieces of advice based on experience:

Get your sleep pattern into rhythm at least a week before going back to school. Late nights and long sleep-ins have got to stop. Have your school routine of early nights and early mornings established before that first day back.

Don’t check notifications on your phone as you are getting ready for school. It sucks up too much time, you will be rushing around and it will just make you flustered and late for school.

Put a bit of time and effort into covering your books for the year. You’ve got to look at those dreaded books for a whole year, so decorate them with something that makes you happy. I decorated mine with happy photos of friends, family, pets and happy places I’ve visited. – Zoe