Helping your child transition back to school 

COVID-19 has created a great deal of change for us all. Following on from this challenging and unexpected situation, families may be experiencing many different feelings about the upcoming return to school. Some children may be feeling excited about returning to school, where others may be feeling more apprehensive. With this in mind, it is important to remember that seeing some worry amongst children is normal and expected during this time. For some children, this may also include difficulty readjusting to the school routine. 

A helpful way to approach your child’s return to school, is to think of it as being similar to the start of the school year. This means getting used to a more formal way of learning and routine again. 

Below are some strategies parents may find helpful in preparation for the transition: 

• Be prepared with uniforms, school lunches etc. Involve your child in packing their school bag so it is ready to go the night before. 
• Have a familiar routine, calm evening and early bedtime the night before. Start re-establishing routines, such as bedtimes, waking times and snack times.
• You may like to read a story that talks about being separated from loved ones. Examples of this may include, ‘The Kissing Hand’, ‘Llama Llama Misses Mama’, and ‘The Invisible String’ (available for viewing online). 
• Tune into your child’s feelings (talk to them about how they are feeling). Show patience and empathy with this. 
• Remind them of home and school expectations. 
• Explain beforehand the drop off and pick up plan (when you will pick them up, where you will pick them up from).
• Resist the urge to ‘hang around’ when doing the drop off. Don’t prolong the goodbyes, but make sure your child knows you have left. 
• You may like to develop a special goodbye or temporary ‘keepsake’ (i.e. photo of mum/dad in their pocket).
• Try to appear relaxed and positive about the first day back. 
• A reward chart may be useful if extra motivation is required. 

It may take time for your child to settle back into the school routine. Every child will respond differently and that is okay. It is important to involve your child’s classroom teacher in the process, if there is particular difficulty with the transition. Be kind to yourself and remember that school staff are here to help. 

Information contributed from raisingchildren.net.au, emergingminds.com.au, and parentmap.com.au