Ready for the New School Year?

One of the best ideas for getting back into the school groove is to stay mentally sharp, even outside of school.  If you haven’t already, use these last days of summer to read, access a local library, engage in a science project at home or visit a museum for a fun history lesson.  Did you know that kids who don’t write during the summer have to relearn to write (and spell) when school starts? Take some time for family activities that can double as practice for handwriting and spelling. Here are a few ideas:

• Together, write a few sentences about what you’ve done that day or week.
• Write letters to friends or relatives
• Encourage kids to write thank you notes
• Suggest your child keep a journal

Get your child into the back-to-school routine. During the summer, staying up late and sleeping in are the norm. But as the start of school draws near, our kids NEED to find that routine. 

Start making the shift three weeks before the first day of school.  Start going to bed 15 minutes earlier, and then get up 15 minutes earlier in the morning.  When school is two weeks away, have your child go to bed 30 minutes earlier at night and get up thirty minutes earlier in the morning. When your child is about to start school in a week, have him go to bed an hour earlier at night and get up an hour earlier in the morning.  In time, your child will be less resistant to the early morning wake-up calls to get ready for school.

In addition, start moving the morning prep work to the evenings.  Before bed work together to select clothing, including shoes and socks, and have them laid out the night before. By the time school starts it has become part of the bedtime process.  Hair accessories, backpacks zipped and ready, and lunches made will help to reduce chaos and will minimize lost items in the harried morning routine.

Organize your family’s time. As appointments and daily schedules for the year form, take note of them and write them down. Use brightly colored sticky notes, or different colored markers for different family members.  Make it fun!  Pull out the stickers! Be sure to keep it posted in a prominent place.  Then, make a habit of checking it twice a day – in the morning and at night. Teach this habit to all of your family members.

Emphasize the positive. Kids pick up on your attitude. Identify what excites your child and focus on that. Talk to each other about the school year coming up, all of the exciting things and even some of the scary things. Encourage. Encourage. Encourage. Remind your child that you are there to help whenever help is needed (be sure to say this... don’t assume they already know). It is easier to handle stress from outside sources – like school – when you know someone is on your side.

Adapted by Denise Boline, Business Manager

Original: Laura Oliver of Aurora Health Care

Knock Out Avoidance…with a One-Two Punch

by Jen Zobel Bieber

The challenge:  How to do the things we avoid.

One strategy: Consider the Combination Approach.  Pair the loathsome task with a pleasant or neutral undertaking you do every day.

This tip came by way of a dental hygienist who recommends flossing in the shower.  She has found that patients who consistently forget or resist flossing by the sink are more likely to carry through with it in the comfort of a warm shower. 

Over time, once the mind forms an association, the neutral or pleasant task triggers us to remember to do the pesky task, too. 

Using the Combination Approach, one of my clients now associates boiling water with sorting the mail.  Whenever she puts water on the stove to boil for dinner, she sorts the mail.  By the time the pasta is al dente, the junk mail has been tossed.

Can you think of something that you wish you could get in the habit of doing, but just can’t seem to do with any consistency?  The Combination Approach is worth a shot.  To make the strategy work even better, keep reminders of the association close at hand.  For instance, keep dental floss in the shower by the shampoo.  Keep the vitamins you resist taking next to your morning coffee mugs.  Keep the book you want to read in the bathroom.  Keep your iPad on top of the treadmill that you wished you used more. 

Another client who struggled with starting a morning exercise routine now keeps his running shoes by the dog’s leash.  It took him a week to begin to associate taking the dog out with fitting in his own 15-minute run around the block. 

Of course, it takes initial consistency for this strategy to work.  We’re all too familiar with experiencing two or three days of good results followed by a return to the same old patterns.  With the Combination Approach, it will likely take several weeks of repetition for the mind to form a lasting association and for a new, useful habit to take hold.  That’s where a personal coach (or friend, co-worker, or family member) comes in handy, providing a means to frequently check-in, share progress, retool what isn’t working, and celebrate success.

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Jen Zobel Bieber is a certified personal coach who specializes in working with adults with ADD/ADHD.  She helps clients achieve long-held personal and professional goals while managing the practical nuts & bolts of everyday.  Learn more about Jen at her Hallowell Profile or her personal site.