Get Your Kids Ready To Go Back To School and Daycare

The single best thing you can do to get your kids ready to go back to school and daycare is to get them on their school schedule ahead of time.

Start waking your child up now at the same time that they will need to wake up for school. If they are hard to wake up, do it anyway. That will help them be sleepy earlier in the evening, which will help them get adjusted.

If you have older kids or children who are sleeping quite late AND have ample time, you can make the change gradually.

Otherwise, go ahead and wake them and let them be tired. It’s far better to be tired at home than to be tired at school, where there are a lot more demands on them. Get them outside if you possibly can. Fresh air and activity will help to reset their circadian rhythms.

Do not let non-nappers take a nap on those days. If your young child still takes a daily nap, time the nap for the same time as it will be during the school week, and wake your child after a reasonable amount of time, no matter how deeply they are sleeping.

It is of utmost importance to induce your child to go to sleep at the correct time, and that means that daytime sleepiness may be required. Do not let them sleep late on weekends, either.

If you have to wake them in the morning, they need an earlier bedtime.

And the only way to make that earlier bedtime happen is to wake them in the morning.

This advice may sound obvious but in my experience, most parents do not make the adjustment to wake times ahead of time. Leading to misery for the entire family the first 1-2 weeks of school, a time where there’s already plenty of stress to go around.

If you need help getting your family back on track with sleep, schedule a free consult today and have a well-rested family this school year, guaranteed. 

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