You may be overwhelmed with the prospect of your children going back to school. Once you get everything on the school supply list — and that’s an overwhelming task by itself — read this quick and easy list of things to keep in mind before sending your kids off to school. You’ll find out tips and tricks that can help you prepare for this ever-so-important time of year.
Get Back to the Routine of School As Quickly As Possible
Whether they went to summer camp or they just stayed at home and slept until noon each day, your children need to get back on a routine of “early to bed, early to rise” for the school year as quickly as possible. Enforce a strict curfew and bedtime, make sure that homework is done at a reasonable hour, and try to have dinner at the same time every night. Remember, despite their protestations, children crave structure, and structure is one of the most important things to have to ensure success in school.
Don’t Do Everything for Them
Give your children some kind of independence. They’ll need it later in life. Allow them to pick out their clothes, for example, but don’t be afraid to exercise your veto power, as a parent. Let them choose their after-school activities, too, and don’t veto every friend they choose as a “bad choice” of friend unless you think it’s necessary, of course.
Limit Their Downtime
Yes, every child should have some downtime, especially after a particularly stressful day at school. However, children shouldn’t be spending every waking minute in front of a computer, TV or smartphone screen. If you have to enable parental controls in order to make this happen, don’t be afraid to do so.
Keep in Touch With the Teachers
Teachers are the adults your children will see the most throughout the school year, so to make sure that your children are on track with the rest of the class, regularly ask their teachers for updates. If you wait until the parent-teacher conference to check on your children’s progress — especially if you live in a state where there are standardized tests — it may be too late to do anything about it, and your children will either have to get left back, go to summer school or both.
Remember to Get Health Insurance
If an accident should happen while your children are at school, you’re going to need their health insurance to cover any medical expenses. Some schools, in fact, require that you purchase a children’s health insurance plan before they go to school, so if you don’t already have it, you should definitely get it now.
Freeway Insurance aims to make the insurance buying process convenient, transparent, affordable and hassle-free, even if you think you’re uninsurable or you’ve never had insurance before. So, before your children go back to school, contact us to see what we can do for you for all your different types of health insurance needs!
