Changing up your family’s schedule from summer freedom to the back-to-school grind can be a rude awakening, but it can also be a great time to be intentional about creating a healthy routine for you and your family. Here are some ideas for things to incorporate.
1. Supplements
With new stressors and exposure to new groups of people come opportunities for your family members’ immune systems to be compromised. Give everyone’s health and energy a boost by getting on a good routine of healthy supplements. Even if it’s as simple as a little extra vitamin C, your bodies will appreciate the help. Finding vitamins doesn’t have to break the bank, though. Look for deals like this Power Life coupon to help offset the cost.
2. Hydration
Drinking enough water can be difficult for both children and adults, but it’s also important for both of you. Find ways to make drinking water a fun family bonding activity by getting coordinating water bottles, making challenges to complete throughout the day or even having prizes for the most water consumed in a week. Incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables or popsicles into your after-school snack lineup to help get a little more water into your kids’ diet, and have cut up fruit on hand for everyone to use to add some healthy flavor into their water.
3. Time Outdoors
Make time each day to spend outside. Whether it’s sitting on the porch and finding shapes in the clouds or trying some old school driveway games, getting kids—and you—some time in the sun will boost moods, creativity and overall health. It’s also a great way to get in some fun, inexpensive family time. Even if you’re only out for 20 minutes a day, it’ll help get everyone away from their screens and burn some energy for a little bit. When it’s cold, even just bundling up to head out for a brisk walk around the block is beneficial.
4. Family Meals
A back-to-school routine is often synonymous with evenings spent racing from activity to activity, squeezing in homework assignments wherever possible. While it may not be possible to sit down and have a family dinner every night, start by choosing two nights a week that you’ll all commit to eating together, even if it’s only for half an hour. This will allow you all to connect and catch up with each other before you take off in different directions again. The meal doesn’t even have to be complicated, it’s just about making time together a priority.
5. Communication
Staying connected as a family can become even more difficult when school begins. You can help foster communication and positive thinking by having each family member share one negative and one positive thing from the day. Ending on the positive aspect helps remind everyone that there was some good in the day, even if it came alongside challenges. Allowing your kids to see you share a little more about what’s going on in your life as well can help them see what healthy communication looks like.
6. Bedtime Routine
You probably know how much sleep each of your kids needs in order to be pleasant, and you probably know the same for yourself. Set your whole family up for success in the morning by establishing a bedtime routine that gets everyone to bed at a reasonable hour. Find ways to help your kids unwind, whether that’s reading a book, listening to calming music or coloring. You can also set up your morning for further success by helping them lay out their clothes and backpacks in the evening to cut down on last-minute hunts for missing shoes. Give yourself a bedtime as well so that you can be refreshed and ready to go in the morning.
Getting a healthy back-to-school routine started from the beginning is important to helping you and your children succeed. Even if you just incorporate one new thing right now, it will help you set up your whole family for a successful year.
