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Back-To-School: How to Get a Good Routine Going

Back-To-School: How to Get a Good Routine Going

By: Holly L. Thacker, MD • Posted on August 31, 2018 • Updated July 07, 2022

Summer activities like vacations, camps, swimming and just staying up later to enjoy the long days of summer can affect your family’s schedules, sleep, nutrition and daily routines.

With kids back in school, it is important to implement a good routine to help your family get organized.

9 Tips to Help Parents and Students Adjust to School-Day Routines

  1. Establish a regular bedtime. Sleep is essential to childhood growth and health and is necessary for all of us. Most children need between 9 and 10 hours of sleep each night.
  2. Prepare for the morning the night before. Get your children in the habit of choosing their clothing the night before. Also, preparing lunches the night before can help eliminate hectic mornings.
  3. Have a consistent morning routine. Try to have your children wake up at the same time each morning. And make sure they eat a good, healthy breakfast.
  4. Talk about the school day with your kids. It can be hard to find time for everyone to be at the dinner table at the same time, so maybe catch up with them while driving to an after school activity.
  5. If you haven't already, schedule appointments with your pediatrician to make sure the sports physical and immunizations are all up to date. Children going off to college need the meningitis vaccine and both females and males should be vaccinated against HPV.
  6. After summer trips to the ice cream parlor and the ballpark, it may be time to make a renewed commitment to sound nutrition emphasizing the Mediterranean diet.
  7. If your loved one is away at boarding school, college, or geographically away for the first time to study abroad, you will need to plan for global realities. Talking to your soon-to-be adult child about issues relating to family values, behavior, safety, and communicating your expectations especially regarding subjects like money, drugs and alcohol use, sexuality, and risky behavior activities of those around them is important. Letting them know your expectations and keeping an open path of communication is very important.
  8. If your child has ADD or any learning disability make sure you have met with school counselors to plan for your child’s needs.
  9. Just like with any new phase in life, be it a birthday, a birth of a baby, or a marriage, be sure to celebrate when your child gets on the Honor Roll, reads their first book or does their own laundry at college!

Be Strong. Be Healthy. Be in Charge!
-Holly L. Thacker, MD

Holly L. Thacker, MD, FACP is nationally known for her leadership in women’s health. She is the founder of the Cleveland Clinic Women’s Health Fellowship and is currently the Professor and Director of the Center for Specialized Women’s Health at Cleveland Clinic and Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Thacker is also the Executive Director of Speaking of Women’s Health and the author of The Cleveland Clinic Guide to Menopause. Her special interests and areas of research including menopause and related medical problems including osteoporosis, hormone therapy, breast cancer risk assessment, menstrual disorders, female sexual dysfunction and interdisciplinary women’s health.

health tips, back to school, kids, teens, preschool, kindergarten, college, immunizations, sleep

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