Beating Back to School Jitters
By: NBC News
Updated: August 16, 2011
You may have the clothes and the supplies, but do you also have a case of the back-to-school jitters?
Getting into back-to-school mode can be unsettling for kids.
So what's a parent to do?
Dr. Roni Leiderman, dean of the Mailman Segal Institute for Childhood Studies at Nova Southeastern University, says get organized and set boundaries now.
"You want to put away the computer games, talk about cell phone time for older children, put away lots of the TV time," she advises. "Make your home a place where you have a place to study, when you come home from school you have a place for your books. You want to have a clean organized environment just like you would for your office."
She also says make the kids go to bed earlier, set a morning alarm, start a breakfast routine and wake up the brain by reading or doing some flash cards.
And she says get the kids together with their friends.
"There's nothing as inviting and as comforting as walking to school those first few days and seeing a familiar face that you reconnected with," she says.
Getting into back-to-school mode can be unsettling for kids.
So what's a parent to do?
Dr. Roni Leiderman, dean of the Mailman Segal Institute for Childhood Studies at Nova Southeastern University, says get organized and set boundaries now.
"You want to put away the computer games, talk about cell phone time for older children, put away lots of the TV time," she advises. "Make your home a place where you have a place to study, when you come home from school you have a place for your books. You want to have a clean organized environment just like you would for your office."
She also says make the kids go to bed earlier, set a morning alarm, start a breakfast routine and wake up the brain by reading or doing some flash cards.
And she says get the kids together with their friends.
"There's nothing as inviting and as comforting as walking to school those first few days and seeing a familiar face that you reconnected with," she says.
