Some of the latest figures show that over a quarter of students have back-to-school anxiety issues. With the school year just starting, it could be worse right now. From making a morning routine to celebrating the little wins, here are some practical ways you can beat the stress of it all.
Continue reading Helping Your Student With Back-to-School Anxiety
We all want to stay organized. We spend hours watching “how to” videos on organization tips from our closets, to our kitchens, to our drawers and more.
Believe it or not, research reveals that Americans spend an average total of 2.5 days a year looking for misplaced stuff. That’s nearly half a workweek we lose just searching for things. But time lost isn’t the only costly consequence of being forgetful.
The study also shows that 60% of people have either been late to work or school because of lost items, followed by 49% who have missed appointments or meetings, and even 22% who’ve missed flights, trains, or bus rides. Turns out misplacing things can be more than just expensive; it’s a major time drain too. Don’t let the lack of organization cost you and your student. Make organization a priority.
Continue reading Back to School: College Prep Organization TipsIt’s that time of year again and your college-bound teen is headed back to school. Every year presents opportunities to get a leg up on the college process. If you and your teen plan strategically before school starts, you’ll have some goals and be able to hit the ground running.
Here is a quick list of back to school tips, broken down by each grade level. The activities are to be done just as soon as your teen gets back to school:
Continue reading Back to School Tips for High School ParentsWhenever I come across a product or service that I think will help students and/or their parents, I like to share it. Check out Lock Socket® if you have a student heading to college or your high school student keeps losing their charging chord!
Lock Socket® has introduced its patent-pending phone charger and cable lock that provides a creative solution for a common problem. Keeping track of a smartphone or tablet charger and cable can be an arduous task, especially in high-traffic areas. Lock Socket® charger locks are designed to fit factory provided chargers and keep them in place in outlets where they belong.
Continue reading Lock Socket®: Keep Track of Your Student’s Charging Chords
For the next several days, I’m going to be sharing some Back to School tips for parents. These tips will be for current high school parents and those parents whose students are heading off to college.
Today’s tips are for parents of current college students, especially those who are heading to college for the first time.
Continue reading Back to School: Preparing for Upcoming College Expenses
My favorite lines from “You’ve Got Mail” are:
“Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”
Newly sharpened pencils always remind me of back to school days. And when fall comes around, I think about that movie (mostly wishing I were in New York in the fall!); but it also reminds of the promise and expectation of a new school year.
Armed with the right online tools, parents and students can face the new year with anticipation and promise. Having the right tools can mean the difference between organization and frustration. These tools would help students succeed as they enter college. Here are some excellent links that I shared with my newsletter subscribers today that I thought you might find helpful:
Continue reading It’s Back to School Time—Resources for Parents and Students
The summer vacation is almost over and back to school your kids must go! But what do they need ahead of a new semester? And how can you help prepare them for a new school year? We’ve pulled together some handy tips to ensure students can make the most of what’s to come.
Follow these useful tips – and work with your son or daughter to ensure their upcoming school year is the best yet – and in no time at all you’ll witness them receive their hard-earned diploma.
If your child hasn’t met their school counselor yet, maybe it’s about time they did. Face-to-face conversation is the way to go, as the counselor really will make your son or daughter make sense of the school year and their choices for the future.
Even if your child’s already taken a standardized test like this, there’s no harm in taking it again. Many students opt to improve their scores a second time around, bettering themselves ahead of their next academic or career step.
If your son or daughter is yet to take the tests, there’s plenty of time to register. It isn’t a requirement to submit SAT or ACT scores by any means, but it may improve your child’s chances of a better career later down the line.
If your child is worried about their performance in a particular school subject, it can make sense to put some preparation time now – while they’re not up against it during the semester. The vacation is a perfect opportunity to dust off those books and get ahead for the new school year.
School can come with costs; from books and stationery to bus and food money – but if you have the conversation with your child now, they’ll be more than prepared when the new semester comes around. Will they need to take a job during the vacation, for example, to earn some extra funds? If so, encourage them to look for the right job, which will ensure they can get out of the house to meet new people, and save some much-needed school money.
As well as getting ahead by putting in some time to study, students can improve their knowledge by reading. Find relevant books, or even novels, and help your child create a reading list that will benefit them when they go back to school. If they’ve shown an interest in a specific subject or discipline, do some research together to find books featuring great success stories from those who’ve followed a similar path. That way, they’ll have a role model in mind when completing their studies, giving them even more reason to put the time and effort in.
While the summer vacation should be spent planning the new school semester, it isn’t all work and no play. A vacation is just that, after all – and your son or daughter should also find plenty of time to relax and have fun. That way, they’re more than ready to tackle whatever the new school year has to throw at them.
As well as the books we mentioned earlier, there’ll be a whole host of fun and beneficial extra-curricular activities available for sign-up during the summer vacation. Are there any seminars on, for example? Or maybe there’s a useful team-building summer camp, or motivational day to consider? Anything your child can do now to get ahead will stand them in good stead later.
Did you enjoy this blog post? What are your top tips to prepare your child for their upcoming school year? We’d love to know.
Every parent knows just what a big deal it is when their child goes to college. Months, if not years of work go into getting the grades their specific college desires. You will probably find that the last few exams are fraught with tension as your teenager knuckles down for that final push. But once result day comes round, all that uncertainty disappears. Half of the torture is the not knowing – and chances are if your teenager studied hard, they will have no problem getting into the college of their choice. It might seem that at this point, the whole family has a chance to relax, right? Wrong! Once the results are in, the hard work is only beginning. Getting your child prepared for college involves a lot of different things, from mental preparation right down to the books they will need. It can sometimes seem that the checklist goes on forever – and you’re still bound to forget SOMETHING. To make things easier, here are a few things your child won’t be able to manage without at college, so make sure you pack these first!
Let’s face it: it’s college, and your kid is going to be taking a LOT of notes. At least, you hope they are going to be taking lots of notes! With most of their time filled with lectures and seminars, they will need to make sure they are writing down and memorizing all the correct information they need to pass their classes. Forget memorizing it – it might sound like a good idea at the time, but it simply isn’t going to happen by watching one PowerPoint presentation. Getting your soon to be student prepped with a lot of writing equipment will act as a good incentive to make them take their college lectures seriously. In order to make it easier, buy stationery online so it all arrives in one big package.
It is important to prepare your teenager for the reality of college life. Their dorm is unlikely to be anything like the sumptuous bedroom they have enjoyed at home. College dorms can be notoriously bare and depressing, as well as being cold! So make sure your child takes plenty of soft furnishing to make the place feel like home. A fluffy rug for them to put their feet on when getting out of bed doesn’t sound like that big of a deal – but it’s the little things like that which can make all the difference.
All of my Facebook friends are posting back to school pictures of their kids. Since my kids are grown, here’s a shot of my grandson on his first day of preschool. His mother was a handful when school started. Mostly because she had definite opinions on what she wanted to wear and the mornings became battlegrounds over her clothes choices. It wasn’t until a very wise woman told me, “Let her pick her clothes out at night and lay them out for the next day.” Bingo. No more battles in the morning over clothing.
Getting back into the routine for school can be hard after summer vacation. There are lunches to pack, carpools to organize, teacher/parent conferences to attend and after school activities. The only way to remain sane and navigate all the stress is to get back into a routine utilizing these time-tested strategies:
You are going to be inundated with papers and notices. You’re going to have emails from teachers and school staff. You’re going to have to keep track of dates and deadlines. If you have a college-bound teen, you’re going to get college brochures and letters in the mail.
Part of getting organized is something our mothers used to tell us: a place for everything and everything in its place. Establish a landing zone and display a large wall calendar that will help you stay on top of the dates, deadlines, and after school activities.
Watch this short video for 8 steps for staying organized.
As I mentioned earlier, we made it a practice to prepare for the next day. Make sure all homework is done, all permission slips are signed, all clothes are chosen, and all lunches are ready to go. Preparing in advance alleviates morning chaos and assures that your student is sent to school with everything they need for the day.
Part of establishing a routine is sticking to the schedule. Homework should be done at the same time every afternoon or evening. Baths and normal bedtime routine should stay fairly similar from night to night. Kids react positively to routines. Chaos in the home transfers to chaos at school
Ready Wendy’s post: 3 Sure-fire Words to Adjust to New Routines
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Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Wendy and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!
The bonus is on the fourth Wednesday of each month when Wendy and I will host Twitter chat #CampusChat at 9pm ET/6pm PT. We will feature an expert on a topic of interest for parents of the college-bound.
Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from parentingforcollege to pocsmom.com and vice versa.
This week, Wednesday’s parent takes at look at back to school with some tips for a new school year. Do you take first day of school photos of your kids? I did. I loved seeing how much they had grown and how the fashion trends changed. For parents (especially after a very long summer) back to school day was a day of rejoicing. Finally, the house becomes quiet and you can have a little bit of time to yourself.
What does “back to school” mean to you? If your student is moving to a new school it probably means uncertainty and stress. Anytime your student enters a new environment they will be anxious; but there are ways you can ease those back to school jitters.
Let your student express their concerns and help them relax about it. Preschoolers are entering school for the first time; middle schoolers now have added responsibility like changing classes and locker combinations; high school students’ lives begin to revolve around their peers; and college students are on their own to flounder in a whole new world of responsibility and accountability. Open conversations will help them lower their stress level.
Yes. I said, “man up”. The sad reality is that today’s parent doesn’t know how to let go. It’s your responsibility to communicate confidence, excitement and joy about the new environment. If they witness you crying, whining and generally unhappy, they will mimic your feelings. Positive parents raise positive children.
As your student gets older and moves on in their academic track, the homework will increase; and so will the drama. If you are frustrated, just imagine how your student feels. Pay close attention and if you witness your student floundering with the new material, hire a tutor, such as tutors at Takelessons, or get help from the teacher or tutoring labs. If you nip the problem in the bud early, he/she won’t be nearly as frustrated in high school and college
New school means new bullies. Unfortunately, it even happens in college. Prepare your student for those encounters by fortifying their self-esteem. Use every opportunity to encourage, hug, support and love on them. Coping with peer pressure is very stressful for students (and their parents). Be proactive and get involved if you have to. This is one area that it’s ok to be a helicopter parent.
Yes. Parents need to make new friends, just like their students. Get involve in parent organizations. This applies to all age groups, even at the college level. Colleges have parent groups too—join them. Volunteer when needed and this helps you stay abreast of what is happening at the school. And don’t tell anyone, but it’s easier to check up on your student when you’re there!
Keep your antenna up and ready to spot any problems that require parent involvement. No. This doesn’t mean you need to hover over your student. But it does mean that, especially at new schools and in new environments, the students encounter problems that need adult intervention. Do not, however, get on the phone every day and become one of those parents school officials detest. You know the ones: their student is never wrong and the teacher is never right.
New school New attitude. What’s past is past and the future is the future. Leave those negative experiences behind and look forward to the new school year with excitement and anticipation. It’s a new start for your student and a new start for you.
Parenting never changes. Whether you have a preschooler or a college student the premise is always the same: you want the best for your kids. Who doesn’t love a fresh start? (I actually saw you smile when you read this.) Have a great school year!