Creating a good routine for your child as school starts can help students adjust when returning to school. A routine can reduce the uncertainty involved in taking on a new semester, lessening student anxiety. A routine also ensures the most important activities of the day have a specific spot and are not forgotten from day to day and from week to week.

Include exercise and meditation. Both exercise and meditation are proven to be highly effective at preventing and treating future and current mental health issues. Given poor mental health is an increasing concern in our society, it is important to stay ahead of it and ensure you have the means to do so built into your child’s day. 

Encourage your child to read. When a child reads every day, their future success can be highly impacted. It allows your child to be more familiar with new words, the world’s biggest ideas from the world’s greatest minds, and the beauty of the world around them.

Start gradually. New routines are best baby-stepped into a schedule, rather than all at once. This prevents overwhelming, leading to the new routine’s ability to “stick”. It also allows time to see what works, what doesn’t, and how to improve your routine based on both.

Stay patient and positive. It will take time for your child to adjust to their new schedule. Besides this, students will naturally use significant mental energy to adjust to their new schedule: as much as the brain likes routine, it dislikes change (at first). You can help your child get over this hump with encouragement and support.

Have a specific time for each activity. Many students (and humans in general) often function at their most relaxed when they have a set, predictable routine. It also reminds students of what activities should always be built into each day, setting them up for future continuation of the most important of these habits.

Starting a routine after the holidays is a great way to help your children get back into the rhythm of school. Building in important activities is likewise helpful not only to greater success during school, but to setting up the activities that a child may continue throughout their life to best allow them to flourish as adults.