Two Week Warning! School is Just TWO Weeks Away! Here's What to Do Now.

      I had hoped to put this out right at 8:00 a.m. this morning, but even I am still a little slow due to summer. But I need to pick it up because in 2 weeks, over 2000 students will be in our buildings and we need to be on our "A" game. And so do students. With teachers doing curriculum work, getting their rooms ready, and checking in and out periodically over the last two weeks and officially reporting next week, it reminded me that this is a great time to start preparing my own kids to start getting into school mode. This does not mean I am putting them through school work from 8 to 3 everyday (we are even spending all day tomorrow at Adventureland!), but it does means some changes are happening around our house so that our kids are physically and mentally ready for school on the morning of August 26th. Here are some quick and easy things to consider doing to make the transition back to school easier and more successful. 



       Bedtimes! Number 1 complaint I hear from parents about the first day of school is trying to get their kids out of bed. Trust me, I would be a grumpy counselor if I woke up at my 6 a.m. alarm for the first time in 3 months on the first day of school. That is why I have been setting my alarm for 6 a.m. since the beginning of August. I don't always make it out of bed at that time and the snooze button does get hit a few times, but I am trying and my body is slowly getting used to these efforts. But even more important than the wake up time is the time you go to bed. If your kids have been on "summer time" and going to bed around 9 or 10 when they usually go to bed around 8, now is the time to transition back. I had heard once that it takes about 2 weeks for a teenager to fully recover from one night of unusual sleep (think staying up to 3 a.m. at a sleepover). Hmm....2 weeks? That makes it even more important to start getting into your school bed and wake up time routine now. The mind will be fresh and ready on that first day of school. If this is a huge change, have a goal to get your kids in bed at the school bed time and let them read or draw until their mind is more relaxed and falling asleep will be easier. Speaking of.....



       Now is the time to read!! I'm not talking just to the students who have required reading, but to all students. Doesn't matter the age, reading for pleasure will help in all areas. And it will help their mind wind down after a long and fun summer day. The older the student, the more reading they are going to be doing in each subject area. So getting your child in the habit of daily reading for 20 minutes or more will help them prepare for the reading that the school day and homework will bring. Even better? Have your child read to you and you read to them. Take turns. You can listen and help where they might make mistakes and they can listen to you to hear how you work through words and how you start, pause, and stop at certain points and inflection and emotion you have in your voice. Who knows.....maybe they will fall asleep when you are reading!! (Not a bad thing....this is a good thing!) 




      How about some math? Science? Social Studies? Yes, these are all good too. The trick is to do some each day without your child noticing they are doing "school work". Go to garage sales and give them some money to budget and spend. Maybe give them only coins so they have to do a little more math. Start looking at possible vacation ideas for next year and have them come up with some ideas as long as they plan how to get there and what you would do. Go for a walk on a bike trail or in the woods and enjoy nature. Go fishing! Go grocery shopping and have your child estimate how much you are spending on everything in your cart. Have your child pick all the back to school items and add up how much it costs. Watch the news together and discuss world events and politics. Add National Geographic or Ranger Rick or Time for Kids to their "for fun" reading at night. All of these ideas get a little more science, math, or social studies into their daily life. The key is to let them explore and learn and talk with them as they do these things. Get to know what they are thinking and how they are solving problems. The more you know about how your child learns, the better you will be able to help them when they get stuck. By the way, as a bonus, as a former science teacher, the Internet has tons of fun science experiments that use basic kitchen materials. My kids love these types of things. And I didn't even mention crafts and creative art things you can do. The options for fun (and educational) ideas are virtually endless! 


    

     These three ideas are the ideas that jump out as me as the most important things you can do to get a jump start on school. Of course you have to mix in some back to school shopping, a trip to the State Fair, and one last time at the pool, I-Cubs game, or Adventureland as well I am sure. But school will start in two weeks and the more prepared your child's mind and body is for that transition, the better start he/she will have. And good starts lead to good years. And a good year (actually a great year) is what we are all hoping for this year. See you in 2 weeks!

More infographics....This Time on Sleep

Lots of infographics today. Thank you to Larry Ferlazzo and his Websites of the Day for some of these. These two infographics I found on his blog as well and they are good. Simply put, our teens do not get enough sleep. Maybe studying these charts may help them understand the importance of sleep. Hopefully, they are all getting lots of sleep now that summer break is here!

30 Lesser Known Facts About Sleep infographic

Great Resources for Information on Sleep (or Lack of) and It's Effects on Teens

  Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo and his website Websites of the Day, I found some great resources on the amount of sleep young people need. And most importantly, the effects of getting too little sleep. One of the most important things I learned from these resources came on the Infographic found towards the bottom of this resource page. Brains are constantly developing through the first 16-24 years of life and they do most of this while a young person sleeps. So if a young person is not getting enough sleep, then their brain cannot develop as quickly. Interesting! Lots of good stuff to learn and a great reminder to keep the electronics out of the room and have your child get plenty of sleep, even on the weekends and during the summer!

Click here for Sleep resources!

More Recent Updates from Partnership for a Drug Free America

  As I do every once in awhile, I have posted some of the more interesting and important blog posts from the last few weeks at the Partnership for a Drug Free America website/blog. Please take a look at the summaries below and click on the article link to learn more. Most articles are very short but contain some really good information that may be helpful to parents and students in our community. Thanks for reading!

Amount of Sleep Affects Sports Injuries click here! At Carlisle, we have a lot of students involved in sports and many spend several hours a day doing their sporting activity. This new study evaluated all sorts of factors and how they may affect injury rates and one of only the few factors that showed they may cause more injuries was lack of sleep. And in talking with many middle school students, I realize that several middle schoolers get less sleep than recommended for their age (8-9 hours a night). After reading this, I encourage you to talk more with your own children, maybe do more research, and make sure they have undistracted sleep (get those electronics out of their room!!)

California Suicide Prevention Websites Helps Everyone click here!  Great site with lots of information about suicide and suicide prevention. It will be a nice resource for me, but a great resource for any family or student who feels they may be at risk of suicide or having suicidal thoughts.

Bath Salts Causing Maine Parents to Give Up Their Children click here!  We see more and more news stories about these synthetic drugs and their effects. This effect, the effect of foster families increasing because parents are getting addicted to bath salts and not caring for their kids anymore, is maybe one of the saddest effects I have seen. Shows you the true damage to person, family, and society these "supposedly harmless" synthetic drugs are actually causing.

Prescription Drug Abuse on the Rise and Teens/Young Adults Causing It click here!  Prescription drug abuse continues to be the fastest rising drug abuse in our country. Easy to get for both adults and teens and found in almost every home. And it is being abused more and more everyday. This article shows a study that shows teens/adults from age 15-27 is the biggest population driving this phenomenon. Protect your medications and pay attention to how many you have and where they are!

Less Sleep = Depression? New Study Shows Possibility

In a recent Scientific American Study, results show enforcing a "bedtime" could be extremely important in your child's mental health. The link at the bottom has the full story, but take a look at this small excerpt:

"Columbia University scientists found that depression was 24 percent more common in teens whose parents let them go to bed at midnight or later than in kids whose moms and dads required them to hit the pillow by 10 p.m. The night owls were also 20 percent more likely to have suicidal thoughts."

Middle School is already scary enough and as middle schoolers change, their hormones and body chemicals change too. This causes them to have mood swings (remember that age?!) and a harder time to keep steady with their moods and focus. This study shows that lack of sleep just adds more on top of these already difficult times and makes depression or suicidal thoughts an even bigger possibility. As a counselor, this scares me, but I have to admit that I see some of this first hand every year. I do some informal questioning of my students about bedtimes and sleep amounts and it does seem to show that the less sleep a student gets, the more likely it is that I will see them about possible depression, large mood swings, or even suicidal thoughts during the year.

So, as the school year starts, give this study a quick read and maybe even discuss the contents with your children and discuss why a good night's sleep is important, not just for those ITBS weeks, but for their own mental health during the year.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=less-sleep-linked-to-blues-in-teens