Preparing for a Smooth Back-to-School Season: A Guide for Parents

Your child’s health – both physical and mental – is the first step to starting the new school year off right. From planning for essential doctor appointments to overcoming back-to-school anxiety, it’s time to think about a smooth transition as summer comes to an end.

Your Child’s Physical Health

As pediatricians, our job is to provide a complete overview of your child’s health and conduct a development assessment to help your child prepare for the demands of the school year.

Before your child starts school again this fall, schedule a physical with your Esse pediatrician. A school physical exam includes a full evaluation of their health—including a full medical check as well as screening tests to check their vision and hearing.

During your child’s physical, we’ll also gain a clear picture of your child’s overall well-being by discussing things like exercise habits, nutrition, and sleep habits and hygiene.

Understand What Vaccines Your Child Needs

To protect children from routine illnesses, your pediatrician will also make sure that your child is up to date on all their immunizations. This often includes protection from: Chickenpox, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), HPV, flu, pneumococcal vaccine, meningitis, hepatitis A and B, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, and polio.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s also critical to ensure that your child is immunized with a COVID-19 vaccine. These vaccines are available for children ages 6 months and older. While COVID-19 vaccines are not required, they are highly recommended by the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Sports Physicals

If your child is active and plays sports, your pediatrician will also provide a sports physical to ensure that your child is healthy to play.

Call or Text the office near you. Our pediatricians are ready to support your child’s back-to-school transition.

Your Child’s Mental Health

How your child feels emotionally impacts how well they do in school and develop. During your child’s back-to-school physical, your pediatrician will discuss mental and emotional well-being. Depending on your child's age, they may ask questions to check if they are feeling down or depressed. They might also give advice on how to help your child have the right skills and support to do well socially and emotionally.

Preparing for back-to-school jitters

Heading back to school can be a lot to handle and cause stress. To help your child through this time, remember these tips:

Keep a routine.
It can be challenging to switch back to a school schedule after summer break, but you can start by creating a daily routine for your child. Set specific times for meals, naps, and bedtime.

Create a safe space for emotions.
If your child is starting to withdraw and show symptoms of nerves or jitters, learn to create a safe space for your child to share their feelings. Mirroring, or reflecting your child’s experience back to them, is a helpful skill. You can say, “I’ve noticed that you’re acting a little differently lately. Would you want to talk about what’s been going on?” To further encourage this safe space, engage your child in creative and relaxing activities, such as drawing or painting.

Model healthy communication.
When you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious, share that information with your children. You can simply name your feelings or say, “I’m not handling my anxiety well right now.” When you demonstrate healthy and open communication with your children, it creates the chance for these conversations to become normal and regular.

After the first couple weeks, it's a great time to evaluate if there are any changes to be made, observe for any behavior changes and get ready for extracurricular activities. Get a few more tips for when School’s Back in Session.