How to adjust going back to daycare and school tips.
Are you Ready to get back on track? Heading back to work, day care and school the next few weeks? Time to start the routine adjustment to prepare us and our children.
Short periods of late nights and routine schedules are a part of the joy of the Christmas break, but this last week I’m getting the call outs for kids having bedtime resistance, frequent night waking and the sibling squabbles!
So 7-10 days before your child starts school or day care is the time to begin routine adjustment to get there little circadian rhythms and homeostatic systems back on track.
By 15 mins a day bring forward meal times back to the times your new/old routine will be. Find out what time morning tea, lunch etc is in the facility your child will be attending. Breakfast, lunch and dinner all may need to be brought forward earlier. Any more than 3 plus days out of home a week and that is your child’s routine. That is does your child spend more time away from home’s routine?
Same goes for bedtime and awake time. Set your child’s awake time- you may need to wake them up a little earlier now, but better now on school holidays than on the first day of school. This gives them time to adjust through the day and handle the earlier bedtime they will need during the week.
Preparation is the key for smooth transitions 🙂
This is some really good information to know if you are a parent. Getting kids adjust to going back to daycare or school sounds tricky. I liked your tip about starting the adjustment to the new schedule 15 to 10 days in advance. That does seem like it would give you enough time to get them used to it.
My son is going back to daycare next week, and so I really appreciate your advice about bringing meal times the same as that of the routine. Although we don’t have much time, I think that it would be a good thing to start doing that now. Maybe we will start that tomorrow by having an earlier breakfast and lunch just like we used to.