Everything changes on the first day of school. 

Summer ends, fall begins and structure returns instantly.

Parents need to prepare for the first day of school.  Parents need to make sure they are home and not tied up late in the office.

Make sure you can serve a meal at home, which in many houses forces the children to the table.

Listen to the events of the first day, and don’t immediately react.  Take them in:

• Bad teachers are often tough teachers who, to me, are the best teachers.
• Who sat with whom at lunch is interesting, and I never read much into it.  What I wanted to hear is the children were socializing with others.  Socialization is such an important lesson at school.
• Encourage extracurricular activities like clubs, sports, music, art or other activities.  Ultimately these activities help round out the child.

If the child withdraws, there may be something else in play.  Spend time with them.

Fill out all the paperwork for school.  Sadly, schools still seem to do this with paper, and almost every class does their own.  It can be a daunting amount of paperwork.  As time went on, I got pretty comfortable using a return address label or sticker.  As the kids got older they were adept at completing for me.

Make note of some of the dates:

• School Pictures - The annual school pictures were important, and I wanted to note the date so I could make sure everyone had a haircut!
• Open houses – Make a point of going to the open house and meeting all the teachers.  Plan ahead.
• Days off/vacations – this was important for arranging day care
• Test dates – Big tests were noted

Most teachers seem to start off with homework, so it’s a good time to enforce doing homework.  Yes this can be hard.  Yes, this can be uncomfortable, particularly if there is a pattern of not doing homework in the past.  What better time to send the message of doing homework?

Drivers should also remember traffic patterns change, too.  School busses are slowing things down, and everyone is back…clogging roads.  Plan extra time for your driving activities.

What do you do to make the first day of school special?

The Author

Gary Kelley has lived in Westborough since 1994. You can follow him @glkelley or www.garylkelley.com