In just a matter of weeks (only a few weeks for many!), school will be starting, and it’s never too early to get ready. With a little planning, you can get a jump start on a healthy back-to-school routine — one that everyone in the family can get behind.
Set Earlier Bedtimes
The first thing to go during summer vacation are bedtime routines, especially ones that allow for enough sleep and early wakeups. Now is the time to start easing your kids’ way back to the routine, so that when school starts, they’ll be getting eight to nine hours (or more!) of sleep each night. Start slowly: 15 minutes earlier, every few days. And get back to the bath, books, lights-out routine, which has also likely fallen by the summer wayside.
Prep Healthy Dinners
Summer is a time for barbecues, takeout, and all-day snacking. Not so, during the school year. Start doing a little meal planning and prep now to get yourself into the routine. Make family sit-down dinners a priority at least a few nights a week now (and in the school year).
Schedule Health Checks
Get all the one-off details out of the way now so you can go on autopilot during the school year. Schedule health checkups, immunizations updates, and things like dental and vision checkups. This clears the way for less hectic afternoons and fewer missed school hours during the year.
Do a Test Run
In the days leading up to the first day of school, do a couple of test runs of your morning routine. Think of it as a dress rehearsal for the opening-night performance. This is especially important for kids heading off to school for the first time. Or for those who find transitions and sudden change stressful or upsetting.
Set Expectations Now
If screentime limits, table manners, and healthy food choices have fallen by the wayside during these final weeks of summer, start setting (and enforcing) school-year expectations now. You can still be a little lax. Just prepare them for the coming changes once school starts.
Organize Mornings
Start routine habits now, such as making beds before sitting down to breakfast, or brushing teeth and then getting ready for the pool. This creates a “when-then” routine that carries into the school year. When the bed is made or your backpack is ready, then it’s time to eat breakfast. When teeth are brushed, then put on your shoes. Whatever works best for how you get your kids out the door. Structure is key in the blur of early mornings.
Check for Lice
Nothing wrecks a healthy and solid back-to-school plan like getting a call from school because your child has lice. It takes two weeks for eggs to hatch and the itching to start. Do a few lice checks in the weeks leading up to school, and save yourself the expense and hassle of last-minute treatments.
Plan Lunches
Dreams of healthy brown-bag lunches often turn into boring PB & J and bags of chips by the end of the school year. But start brainstorming healthy, tasty lunches that suit your kids’ tastes now. Write them down and stick the plan on the fridge. Maybe this is the year your kids can start packing their own lunches, too.
Buy Healthy Snacks
Growing kids, especially those in their tweens and teens, eat constantly. Start making a list of healthy foods your kids will snack on, and make them available now, especially if it’s been a summer of junk food. Tastebuds can take time to transition from high sugar/high salt to high fiber/high vitamin.
Line Up After-School Activities
Make a plan now for new things they’d like to try (or that you’d like them to try), or how to let them do all the things without turning school evenings into one big drive all over town. Sign up for lessons or teams now, too, and save yourself the last-minute hassle.
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Add this graphic to your Pinterest boards as your reference guide to jumpstart your healthy back-to-school routine.
