Help Your Kids Get Themselves Ready for Back to School

Are you ready for back to school? Some of your kids may have headed back this week while others are heading back any day now. I get it, it can be a stressful time of year. You want to spend as much time with your kids as possible, you want to fit in any of those last minute summer vacations and staycations – all while trying to check off the list of the things you need to get your kids ready for to head back to school.

There is no reason why you need to shoulder all the responsibility of getting your kids ready to reenter the classroom! Kids of all ages can help. These are some great ways to get them involved in the process and take some items off of your to do list.

Start thinking about what they could do for themselves this year that you used to handle, what privileges and freedoms, and responsibilities they might be ready to learn. Their teachers are planning to work with them on new skills and abilities, we should do that at home also.

First, make a list of everything you and your kids need to do to get ready for back to school. Then take out the highlighter. What can they help you with. Then make them a separate list. Prioritize what needs to get done first and assign “due dates”.

Some easy things that kids of all ages can help you with is going through their clothes to see what fits or not. Kids grow fast and chances are their fall clothes from last year won’t fit. Especially your little kids.

Here are some other examples on how kids can help:

• Preschool kids can look through the house for supplies on the list.

• Middle schoolers can clip coupons and look for deals on back to school clothes.

• High schoolers should plan out their weeks and explain to you how they’re going to balance school, work, teams, etc, and transportation needs!

Check out this video for other suggestions where kids can help out and ideas for each age group from preschoolers to high school:

You can also have them set up their “work station” for where they will do their homework.

As with anything, establishing a routine is the best way to get off to the right start for back to school. Setting up that routine before school starts will let them get into the swing of things before the crazy of beginning of the school year starts.

What do your kids help with on their back to school list? Share with me in the comments!

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