Every once in a while, there is a child who is excitedly waiting for summer to end so he or she can get back in the classroom. Mostly, however, children want to put thinking about it off as long as possible and many parents simply don’t want to deal with it as they already have too much to take care of. The problem is the longer you put it off the more urgent it becomes and the higher the stress levels will be when you do deal with it. So, to help reduce your late summer stress, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare provides just a few back-to-school preparation tips to begin the process now instead of at the last minute. In case you had forgotten, government schools are set to reopen on August 20! Goodnight plans Let’s start with the toughest issue first. Sleep times. It is a known fact that fatigue affects a person’s ability to concentrate, to learn and to retain important information, and children are affected more by tiredness than adults. So, one of the best things you can do for your children is to ensure they are getting adequate quantity and quality of sleep. That is, by the way, true at all times and for yourself as well. It is quite likely during summer, however, that your children have been staying up a bit later than usual. If that isn’t the case, congratulations. If it is, August is here, which means there isn’t a lot of time left before that early morning school alarm goes off again. You might, therefore, begin reintroducing (or introducing if you’ve never done it before) a fixed bedtime. If they’ve been staying up really late, then maybe you can start by changing the bedtime a little and over the course of the next few weeks, adjusting it so by the time school starts, they are in (or close to) the habit of going to bed at a fixed and necessary time. That way from the first day of school onwards, they wake refreshed and ready to learn. Limiting device time OK, maybe sleep isn’t the toughest one. The toughest just might be limiting time spent on phones/iPads/computers or just watching television. Although the impact of these media devices on children is still being debated, there is strong evidence that suggests attention span and cognition are negatively affected. With that said, it is for certain that there are only 24 hours in a day and being on these devices for a significant amount of time for recreational purposes decreases the amount of time and energy your child could spend learning new things and using their imagination. Best to introduce a bedtime now before school starts and it could negatively impact your child’s academic performance. Developing routines Another is routine, or with summer, it may be more accurate to say lack of routine. School requires routine. Everyone has to get up at a certain time so your children can wake up, shower, eat breakfast, and ensure everything (including their completed homework) is in the school bag.