We hope you have had a fantastic Chinese New Year holiday and we’re sure the kids have enjoyed the break from school and have probably got used to later bed times, lie ins and just hanging out with friends.
The prospect of returning to a more structured school day might be a bit shocking to some families and whilst some kids might be looking forward to seeing their school friends again, there are probably just as many who are dreading the start of school. So what can you do to prepare your children to get them back into the swing of kindergarten or school after the holidays?
First and foremost, you’ll need to get them back into a sleeping routine that they will have next week i.e. school bed times and waking up early enough to get ready for school in a calm fashion. There’s nothing worse than having to wake your child up before they naturally wake up and have just 20 minutes to get dressed and wolf down breakfast before you run out the door. It just sets everyone up for a terrible day!
Don’t overload them the weekend before school restarts. Have a quiet couple of days to wind down from all the excitement of the holiday week. Make sure they’ve completed any homework that might be due and perhaps sit down with them to do some more structured activities that resemble school work. If you can get them to enjoy doing some reading, writing or number games that they will actually be chomping at the bit to return to school to learn some more!
If your child is nervous or anxious about returning to school, reassure them that this is quite normal and that chances are their friends are feeling the same. Spin it around and talk about all the positive things that will happen next week. Perhaps there’s a school trip scheduled that they will be excited about, or a bake sale, and of course, get them talking about their school friends.
The night before the first day back at school have your child pack his or her own school bag and lay out their clothes for the next morning. Make the task feel special and give them the responsibility of doing it. Maybe have them lay up the breakfast table as well so that there is an air of excitement and change about the following day.
Of course, it’s not just the kids who might be feeling sad about the end of the holidays. Hopefully you have also enjoyed spending some quality time with the children and you’re also sad that everything will be returning to normal. Why not do something really special on the day before school starts just to end the holiday on a high. Ask the kids what they think they’d like to do and give them a few options to pick from.
Ultimately, we want our children to enjoy school and generally speaking kids thrive in a structured environment so any trepidation will have disappeared completely within minutes of arriving at school! We hope it goes well! Good luck!
Getting Kids Back in to the Swing of School After CNY!