Getting Ready for School

Podcasts

It’s the time of year when we’re making plans. Plans for summer, even if it feels like we’ll never get there, and plans for school for next year, whether it’s college or first time away from a parent! There are a few things which can help set the stage for success. Here are our favorites.

• Think good thoughts.

Read books about school. Share stories of your memories. Speak positively about the new adventures you’ll have, the new people you’ll meet who will soon be friends. This is a good thing!

• Go visit.

Schedule a time to visit the new space. Maybe there’s a locker or a cubby or a dorm to check out. Maybe there’s a teacher to meet. Where are the bathrooms, where to we eat lunch? It’s a lot easier to imagine, when you know where you’re going to be.

• Have the right tools.

A new environment might require different accessories. Are you going to be bringing a lunch and taking a nap at school? Is there special clothing that’s required? Having just the right tools can help you feel successful.

Some of these suggestions can be implemented as soon as you’re starting to make a plan. Getting ready for school doesn’t start the night before, it starts by speaking positively about work and about school, enthusiasm for learning from the earliest days, visits to the library or to a museum or to an aquarium and expressing wonder at all there is to know.

Some of these suggestions are better left until there’s more information, but certainly worth a bit of brain power. If you’ve never packed a lunch before, and in a few months it will be a daily task, spend a few minutes looking into different options, and your school’s requirements. Will lunches be refrigerated, or do you need an insulated container? Are there policies about nutrition? Will utensils be provided? These aren’t questions which require an immediate answer, but certainly worth some thought, before the first day of school.

Whatever this next transition brings, congratulations. Though they’re sometimes a bit bittersweet, they’re wonderful. A cause for celebration for all that has been, and all that will be.