Please click here for a full list of Parent Resources, including links to community partners that are open and available to help RISD parents over the break.
A few more links to resources for RISD families, include the City of Dallas, the North Texas Food Bank, and Trusted World.
This familiaRise segment talks about how to help ease your child back into school mode after the holidays.
Prepare by discussing the return to school. Remind your child that they will be returning to school on Tuesday, Jan. 9, and reinforce the positive sides of school such as seeing friends or learning something new in their favorite subject.
Work to get back into your family routine. As hard as it may be, getting up at your regular time a few days before the break is over will make it much easier to get back in the normal routine once the holidays end. If your child has a routine eating schedule try and plan snacks around that time if you won’t be eating at the same time. It’s easy for kids to become night owls over the break when they know they can sleep in the next morning. Before sending your child back to the grind, taper back on screen time and ease back to a reasonable bedtime.
Use a visual calendar. Having a visual countdown in the number of days leading up to the return to school can help reduce back-to-school anxiety and help you address any fear or worry of returning back to school.
Get a good night’s sleep. It’s easy to break the bedtime routine and sleep schedule during the break. When possible try to keep your child’s bedtime and wake up time as close to normal times as possible. Some nights this may not be possible but don’t allow one slip up to become the norm.
Practicing perseverance is another great way to build your child’s stamina when returning to school after the break. Moments when we feel like we can’t do it, or that we want to give up because we are too tired. We need to develop tools to help us work through those challenges in order to grow instead of giving up. Part of practicing perseverance is setting specific goals and developing action steps to work towards them. This is a great way to start the New Year off right.
Conversation Starters:
- What does it mean to be engaged at school?
- When working towards goals, how does perseverance help us to reach them?
