Blog

by Katlyn Short, MSW LISW and Sarah White, LPC

1. Routine, schedule, and structure. The summer months bring about a much needed break for families to step outside of the school routine, but students typically thrive with having consistency and routine. Now is the time to tighten up bedtime routines in order to ensure an appropriate amount of sleep is attained, while also setting up your child for success to wake up and get ready in a timely manner. We encourage families to use a “turn in/off” policy to eliminate the distraction of technology prior to bedtimes.
2. Preparing students for peer relationships. Navigating the social aspect of school can be difficult for many students and requires guidance and intentional conversations to build healthy and successful relationships. While we certainly cannot fully predict what challenges may come, we do want our children to prepare for possible relationship struggles and know that this is always something that can be discussed with the trusted adults in their lives.
3. Acknowledging the hard. Oftentimes we hear students say that the adults in their lives don’t understand what they are going through. And in many cases, they are right. Our children are experiencing things in their lives that we as adults simply did not. It can be really empowering to know that what they are going through is difficult. We hear first and problem solve second. Once they feel heard, then we can work on finding how they want to work through/cope through the hard.