Hi, I'm Hilary Demillo and I'm here in the Mission Center at Arkansas Children's
today and I'm joined by middle school teacher Katie Pazan
who works in the hospital classroom at Arkansas Children's Hospital
and so together we're going to talk a little bit about back-to-school
we know that most students in the state are back in their classes or have been
back in the last few days but there's some really important things to begin
thinking about as your kids come home from school over the next few days and
as you guys kind of make that transition with school back, so Katie thanks for joining us today.
Thank you for having me. Absolutely. First of all tell me a little
bit about now that schools back in session what's your best piece of advice
for parents who are getting back in the flow? Everybody needs a new schedule,
mom and dad included, because everything's been a little easier in the
summer, so everybody's getting got to get back on schedule and you do that as a team,
everybody gets a bedtime, everybody gets routine and then at nighttime get
back into that we have a school moment, whether it be 30 minutes of reading or
actual homework, get back into that routine so it becomes easier.
Excellent, that's good advice to start out with. Tell me how important it is to
have conversations with your kids about what happens during the day, about the
schools events, and about maybe what's happening tomorrow.
Should that be part of your routine? Absolutely, for two reasons, one it helps
them get less nervous because school starting is very nerve-racking
the unknown, so then getting to talk it out with you about what happened and
what's going to happen takes away a lot of nerves, but you're also showing
interests in your child. You invest a lot in your child and so by investing in
their education and showing that you're interested, it makes them be more
excited and more invested in school as well. Ok, talk to me a little bit about
developing a routine for homework and for studying. How hard is that and why is
it important it's one of those things that I think especially with so many
activities that parents and kids participate in, can kinda go by the wayside.
It is hard, because it's going to be different for each kid
if your kid does have after-school activities
you're gonna have to fit those homework times in between and so
you've gotta set that for yourself but keep it consistent, if they don't have
after-school activities then it becomes when does your child do best. Do they
need to come home and do their homework right away or do they need a moment to
decompress, have a snack, read a book, whatever it is before they start that
homework time and you've got to figure that out, what's right for your family, so
they get the most success at at that time. Ok, excellent, so we go immediately
from after-school from activities and homework to sleep and tell me a little
bit about why it's so important to establish good sleep routines.
This is probably the hardest part of back to school, for everybody, including moms and dads,
but in the summer, you let them stay up a little bit later because they can.
So you're gonna have to start that transition back to the earlier bedtime
a little at a time, so you can't go from 9:00 to 7:30.
15-20 minutes and start it the week before school if possible, if not, do the
best you can to work in back to that. There will be a lot less fights. That's good
advice everyone's looking for that, especially with their sleep routine.
Should the sleep schedule change based on age? Does that matter?
It does. The younger they are the more sleep they need. The older they are they
still need more sleep than they think they need, but they still need a good 8
to 10 hours even in high school. Plus at school there's a stamina to school.
That's true. And so that's why they're so tired the first week of school and so
they've got to recognize that they got to keep that stamina up for nine months.
So by going to bed a normal time, getting the right amount of sleep, they're
setting their self up for success throughout the day. One of the things
that I experience a lot with my son, he's in kindergarten, is a lot of "I don't know"
or "it's fine" when I try to talk to him about his day. What are ways that we can
set up better conversations with our kids
to kind of engage a little bit more and pull some more information out of them?
That is a tough one. What I do with my son who's in second grade, I ask him
"what's your favorite part of your day", "what was the best thing that happened
today", "what's the worst thing that happened today", "what was your least
favorite part", "what are you looking forward to tomorrow". Take away the yes/no option
will help them get a conversation started, even if they're "my favorite
thing was I got to pick my seat today", "oh, well then where did you choose to sit"
"who did you sit by", "who'd you talk to today" and then hopefully, fingers
crossed, it'll lead to them being more open. And when they are more open how
does that influence their coursework and what they're doing in school? They'll
feel more confident telling you when they're scared or nervous or feeling
like they can't do it, they're struggling in something, they'll be more
willing to tell you. And I mean you know just knowing mom's on their side,
dad's on their side, that they have somebody on their team, will always build more confidence.
Do you have any other tips for building confidence, I mean the
beginning of the school year is a time when I think children are more nervous
than usual, some of us have kind of gotten through that last few days with
school starting back, but there's still some nerves coming in. Do you have any other
tips for building confidence and helping equip children? I think sometimes you
know whether it'll be the first day of school or maybe the Friday of the last
week of school, have some sort of celebration thing. Whether it be going to
dinner or going to get an ICEE, something that makes it a positive
experience. That'll take some of that away, but also whether it be "what do you need?"
,"I need a new planner", "let's go get that", "let's do that", ask them what is it
you need this week, because they may not know last week, but they know now and so
just being aware of those things and asking them what do you need, will help them with that.
Excellent, anything I haven't thought
about asking you that you wanted to share with parents about what they
should be thinking about as school starts back? As mom and dads we always
wonder if we're doing the right thing, and if you're doing the best you can for
your child you're doing everything right. I think that's what
everyone needs to hear right now.
I appreciate Katie Pizan for joining us this afternoon, here in the Mission Center and thanks to
our crowd for listening in a little bit, to learn about back to school.