Any tricks tips etc. for Gs'FG back to School

[totoro]

I thought we could share things that have worked for us or helped out for getting our kids smoothly to school.
Some of our kids could care less, some have anxiety. Some get depressed.

Some are wound up like a top!!! Some don't sleep.

I have no clue! LOL
K seems to be doing OK so far, we start tomorrow!
So I have to be ready.
She is racing and hyper. But I am just trying to keep her busy and my thing is to try not to get on her about things she is doing wrong this past week.
She is getting upset easier and uber sensitive.

I try to be aware of her moods right now and realize it is her anxiety.
Same with N.

I had them go through their school supplies over and over and over, it seemed to make them feel better.

I basically backed off some of the rules and have been a little extra sensitive with them.

This has seemed to worked for the most part.
Even though I am ready to bang my head against the wall.

Oh and lots of swimming.

What do you do?

N starts Kindergarten tomorrow so I am a bit sad about this, happy but sad!

 

[DammitJanet]

I had a friend once who had a long-standing tradition that on the first and last day of school she made home-made chocolate chip cookies for her kids and she always had them waiting at the table that day after school with glasses of milk. Her kids just loved that tradition. So did she. I thought it was so sweet.

Maybe you could start something like that since this is N's first year of school. I know you love to bake.

 

[Babbs]

Since I work for a school district, I have to go back to work usually the week before my difficult child starts school again. We started a tradition where he gets to spend most of that week before school at grandparents' house (120 miles away). So he gets a relaxed week before school being spoiled and it takes his mind off of starting a new classroom etc. Gives me a week to get my mind wrapped around work related tasks again before having to deal with him. I think for difficult child being at grandparents' house makes school out of sight out of mind...

 

[tiredmommy]

My big thing with Duckie is that she mustn't fully get out of school mode. We do reading and math most days, she still has a bedtime except for special occasions, and we maintain a routine. I also let her go to day camp for a week somewhere near the middle of our summer (last week)... we don't go back until September 9th this year.

We get her supplies et al early so she doesn't worry about it... she makes choices where they are appropriate and meaningful. We re-organize her room so it's not so cluttered. We make sure she has any needed doctor appointments early (next week) so all the paperwork and medications are in place prior to the first day of school. I set-up for Duckie to be on a school bus with an monitor a month out so she's on the list when the routes are set (done as of yesterday). All this makes my transition to the school year and that helps Duckie do better.

It also has helped that she is in a multiage program: she looped with the same teacher for first and second grades and she had second grade math with the teacher she'll be with for third grade so she's comfortable with the teacher and classroom. It's really a great program for a more anxious child or one that struggles with transitions.

 

[KTMom91]

With Miss KT, we were prepped and ready in advance. We went to school, found her classroom, got what we needed/wanted for lunches, bought cute pencils/pens/notebooks, all the fun stuff little (and big) girls enjoy. We did this even through her first year of high school.

When she started summer session at college, we still walked the campus. "Prepare the child for the situation and the situation for the child." Best advice I ever got.

 

[Shari]

I DON"T KNOW WHAT I"M DOING!!!!

difficult child is escalating...behaviors we haven't seen since April. And I'm 98% certain its school-related. We're all trying to be calm, downplay school, keep the routines, and discuss the ah-hem...meetings....with the school in the barn or somewhere...

 

[DammitJanet]

Do you guys with very anxious kids have any lovies that calm them down? Blankets, stuffed animals, small toys?

Jamie had his blanket. He slept with it every night. When he went to first days of school in the early years a tiny piece of that blanket was in his pocket. He would finger that piece of blanket throughout the day when he got nervous.

Maybe a picture of mommy would help. Or a picture of a pet. Print it out small and put it in their pocket.

If you are making their lunches, show them how you are going to make a special sandwich from a new mold you can buy at the grocery store. They sell these special sandwich cutters to make hearts or smiley faces or things like that.

Can you get an older kid to take your kid under their wing so they wont be so afraid on the bus and in school? Mine always had each other. They would make sure the younger ones got to the right places. We had always visited the school before hand but on that first day, the older one took the littler ones and made sure they got to their classrooms ok. It was funny...I put them on the bus then hightailed it to the school to watch. Billy, Jamie and Cory got in the school and Billy and Jamie dropped Cory off at his class then Billy dropped Jamie off at his room and went to his room...lol.

 

[totoro]

Well today was the first day.

YES YES YES!!!
It went off without a hitch, so we must have done something right, at least as far as getting them out the door! LOL

This was N's first day of School, Kindergarten, I think going to School before hand etc. Meeting the teacher beforehand has really helped.
K also met her teacher before hand.
They both met them 2 times beforehand.

We really tried to down play the whole thing. Last night they were driving me crazy, not listening so amped and out of control, I really could not punish them though, I figured get it out today.

TM we also keep the routine, bedtime, books before bed, they get up early any way.
So I think this has helped.

Anxiety is always there in different ways for both of the girls. We talk a lot and let them have whatever they need to comfort themselves. K has "puppy" and N has "Toallo" he is an "Italian" towel old "baby barfy towel"! LOL
Honestly our therapist and the cognitive therapy is helping so much.
With each anxiety episode in our house she has us write about it and have the girls express their feelings.
-what happened
-what was I thinking
-and how was I feeling
and then they have to rate it from 1-10.

We do this after they have calmed for awhile.
This has helped with School feelings and will help with School issues, I hope!

I am just glad school is easier these past 2 years K.

 

[AnnieO]

I DON"T KNOW WHAT I"M DOING!!!!

difficult child is escalating...behaviors we haven't seen since April. And I'm 98% certain its school-related. We're all trying to be calm, downplay school, keep the routines, and discuss the ah-hem...meetings....with the school in the barn or somewhere...

Does he know that Pretty Boy is gone?

 

[Shari]

Yeah, the one person in the whole cast of new characters that difficult child has met is the new principal. Last year, at the meeting with the doctor, they sat around that table with all these great plans to get difficult child in there early to meet them all and hang out in a relaxed environment....?hahahah

The ONLY reason we're even having the IEP meeting tomorrow (school starts Wed) is because I danced around due process about the way the half days came to be...otherwise, I doubt we'd be meeting now.

Trying to remain optimistic, but the feeling in my gut is NOT good.

 

[Wonderful Family]

Great idea to ask for suggestions.

I'm particularly keen to hear suggestion about how to handle when difficult child won't talk. difficult child just went back to public schools this week after being in a private school for the last couple of years.

First day was a horror - as was the whole weekend (expected, but again, we "forgot" what it was like). He was better the rest of the week, but still on edge and much worse than over the summer. He won't respond to normal things for the anxiety. He's also back to building forts and hiding underneath blanks - but he tear them down as soon as I walk past his room.

He sees a therapist he likes as well; but won't talk to him either.

 

[tiredmommy]

WF- Is this your difficult child or easy child? It sounds like he's suffering from anxiety... but I'm no doctor. Is he not speaking in school? Or is just not talking about his day? There is an anxiety-related disorder called selective mutism you may want to look into.

 

[Wonderful Family]

difficult child is the one that always struggles. He has an IEP, etc. and my husband is working with the SD since he is currently out of work. difficult child was much better tonight, is doing a little homework; he just is so irritable, it's crazy. He still struggles with depression constantly too - and definitely has issues related to anxiety. We see the psychiatrist again next week for our normal monthly appointment.

No major arguments other than his starting to get real aggressive on Monday; just lots of his shrieking. He can't stand to be around many people other than a friend or 2 for a short period of time. Nothing new for us; but he won't talk about anything if he is sad or depressed. psychiatrist may choose to try lithium becuase of the cycling; he had about a 2 week break from the irritability a few weeks ago and he's been on teh downhill since. So perhaps I am getting ahead of myself too.