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Sad to say but Summer is almost over and it’s time to start thinking about getting ready to go back to school. It’s been a great couple of months with lenient bed times and no alarm clocks. In order to make the transition a little smoother I like to ease back into our school routine one week at a time. Here’s a plan to help you make getting back into a school routine easier, including free printables.
Morning & Bedtime Routine
Start with the morning and bedtime school routines you want to use for the school year. Not sure what your child’s bedtime should be? According to Web MD school age children need between 10-12 hours of sleep with bedtimes usually being between 7:00-9:00pm.
We are not morning people. So, I give my child about an hour in the morning to get ready, eat breakfast and shake the morning grumpiness off before he heads to school.
Our bedtime routine includes bath time, followed by some snuggle time on the couch, 30 minutes of story time, then lights out.
Free Morning & Bedtime Routine Printable – Click to Download
Easing into Your School Routine
Once you’ve set your morning & bedtime school routine it’s time to start the easing in process. After a Summer of sleeping in it can be quite a shock for kids (& moms) to suddenly have to get up before the sun comes out. To make the first week of school easier and less miserable, simply start getting used to your routine in increments. Adjust the times in 15 minute increments for the four weeks leading up to the first day of school.
Free Easing Back Into A School Routine Printable- Click to Download
Also check out these 4 Tips to Make School Mornings Easier.
Teaching Clock
When my son was around 3 years old we had a problem with him waking up too early in the morning and waking us up. We ordered the Teach Me Time Clock from Target which has a night-light that glows yellow and turns green when it’s okay to get up. It worked for us and we were able to get some sleep.
Now that he is older and gets the concept of not waking us up, we might bribe him with donuts on the weekends, we use the color change feature on the clock a little differently. I set the yellow night-light to come on when it’s bath time, the color changes to green when it’s story time and turns off when it’s time for lights out. It’s been very helpful in getting him to transition from one bedtime activity to the next. He has a lot of fun seeing how many books we can fit in before the green light goes off.
What bedtime routine techniques do you use to make it through the school year?