To ensure your kids have a healthy back-to-school season, we spoke to experts from Johns Hopkins about the steps to take to keep them safe.
The end of the summer is quickly approaching, and that means it’s almost time for the start of the new school year.
While some kids dread the back-to-school transition and others look forward to it, what remains consistent is every parents’ desire for their kids to thrive as they enter a new year — and that requires them to stay healthy, happy, and well.
Fortunately, there are a number of steps parents can take to ensure their children are set up for success this fall. Healthnews spoke to medical experts from Johns Hopkins about specific things you can do to give your child the absolute best shot at a happy and healthy new school year.
Annual check-ups
First and foremost, it’s important to take your child for their annual check-up, according to Eliana Perrin, MD, MPH, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of primary care at the Johns Hopkins schools of medicine and nursing in the pediatrics department.
“Yearly appointments are important because they allow a pediatric provider to assess whether your child is up to date on immunizations, whether they are growing and developing well, and make sure they get a physical exam that can check for common health problems at different ages,” Perrin tells Healthnews.
Seeing pediatric providers preventatively ensures that if something urgent comes up during the school year, you are not starting from scratch with building a relationship with a new provider at a tough time, she explains.
As children approach adolescence, your pediatric provider may also want some time alone with your child, she adds. This allows them to get to know your child and ask questions about their health that are sometimes awkward to discuss in front of parents.
“This is something all parents should want — a trusted additional adult in their teenager’s life, and one that has medical knowledge and resources to support their transition to adulthood,” she says. “Pediatric providers have great advice to offer each year about how to stay injury-free, well nourished and at a healthy weight, and prevent a lot of chronic illnesses of adulthood.”
Parents and caregivers should also make sure their children have the right immunizations to head back to school, she says. This includes the COVID vaccine and potentially the annual flu shot, Perrin says.
Don’t forget to make sure your child’s health forms are filled out with the appropriate emergency contacts, she adds, and ensure any prescriptions your child takes at school are filled along with the appropriate forms.
Forming healthy eating habits
While children’s summer diets can veer off into unhealthy territory, Perrin says the start of school is the perfect time to get into a good routine when it comes to nutrition. Parents can help kids create healthy eating habits for the new school year in a few different ways.
“First, it’s important that they eat well and model good nutrition themselves — not skipping meals, eating healthy sized portions, and eating plenty of fruits and vegetables,” she says.
Parents and caregivers can also make sure unhealthy foods and sugar-sweetened beverages are not in the home by not buying them in the first place. If they aren’t in the home, Perrin says children will be less likely to eat or drink them.
Parents can also influence good habits by helping children eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full, she explains.
“They can plan what their children are going to eat and drink during the school day in the coming year so it’s as healthy as possible,” Perrin adds. “Talking through what’s available and what’s healthy allows children to start making healthy choices on their own.”
Developing a good sleep routine
Along with eating habits, sleep routines can also get slightly out of control during the summer. But since most kids must wake up relatively early for school, Perrin says it’s important to start shifting them from a summer to a school sleep schedule as early as possible.
“Healthy sleep means getting into a routine that allows a child to settle down before going to bed and having predictability that allows children to get into good sleep habits,” she says.
This means having a routine that includes brushing teeth, letting them read or reading to the child depending on their age, having time without screens for two hours before bed, and making sure their sleep space is screen-free, she says. Making sure children don’t have any caffeine can also help.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 10-13 hours of sleep for children between the ages of three and five, including naps. For children ages six-12, they recommend between nine and 12 hours. And for adolescents, they recommend between eight and 10.
“Plan accordingly to make sure children get homework done, get outdoors, and have a good dinner in the hours between the end of school and when they should be starting their bedtime routine,” she says, “[so they can] wake up to get to school on time and [feel] refreshed for a busy day.”
Healthy hygiene habits
To help prevent your child from getting sick once they return to school, it’s essential to instill in them good hygiene habits, says Anna Sick-Samuels, MD, MPH, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
First and foremost, that means teaching them to wash their hands often.
“Important times to wash hands to reduce germs getting inside our body or spreading between people are: before we eat, after using the bathroom, after sneezing or using tissues, and after coming in from playing outside or being around many people,” she tells Healthnews.
It’s also important, as much as possible, to teach your child to stay home when they’re sick. If they have a fever, sore throat, cough, congestion, vomiting, or diarrhea, it’s best to stay home until symptoms improve, she says. If you or they have to go out with any of these symptoms, consider a face mask to help reduce the spread of germs to others. Similarly, it’s ideal to avoid close contact with other people who are sick.
Parents and caregivers should also teach their children to cough and sneeze into their elbows rather than their hands, Sick-Samuels says.
“This helps droplets carrying germ particles from flying through the air and reaching other people,” she says.
To help kids develop consistent hygiene practices, it’s important to help them form strong habits that will last, she says. For example, get them to wash their hands every time they come home. If they do it every time, it becomes routine, and they may be less likely to protest, she says.
You can also try using incentives.
“To get a new habit started, you can consider small rewards like a sticker chart with little prizes,” she suggests.
Kids are also more likely to cooperate if you make it fun, and singing songs while washing hands is a good way to do that, Sick-Samuels says. Washing hands for 20 seconds is a good goal, she says — so try getting them to sing through the “Happy Birthday” song twice while they wash.
For those that have trouble washing for that long, she suggests getting them to wash something else in the sink with soap and water for a while which may also help wash their hands more thoroughly. They may also be more willing to do it if you let them pick a soap with a scent or picture they enjoy.
“Be a role model,” she adds. “Kids may follow what they see their parents and caregivers doing.”
Good habits for school sports
The start of the school year means the resumption of school sports, which present a multitude of benefits for kids, according to Johns Hopkins pediatric sports medicine specialist R. Jay Lee, MD.
There are of course physical benefits, including building strength, improving endurance, fine-tuning coordination, and increasing balance, he says. Physical activity is also key for overall cardiovascular and bone health, and it helps kids develop healthy habits for adulthood.
On top of that, there is the social benefit of engaging and interacting with other classmates, building friendships, and learning to communicate. Kids also learn how to deal with adversity and overcome challenges, learning to ‘get back up’ as they compete and experience both winning and losing.
Lee
To help kids stay safe during sports, Lee says it’s important to gradually ramp up the intensity and duration of practices during the beginning of the sports season to prepare the body for the stresses of games and competitions.
Before each practice, Lee says there should be a period of warming up with a combination of static and dynamic stretching. And during practices and games, kids should be told to monitor their bodies for any discomfort.
“Outside of muscle soreness, kids in general should not have significant pain during normal sports participation,” he says. “They should respond to this pain and modify their activities accordingly.”
Staying hydrated is also incredibly important during sports, especially during the hotter months of the year.
“In terms of overall sports participation during the course of the year, we encourage patients to play different sports during the year and put different stresses on the body during the course of the year,” he says. “There should also be breaks during the year rather than 12 months of continuous intense sports participation.”
Children should always rest before and after games to avoid injury, he says, adding that they should be taught to listen to their body and to never play sports while injured. Ensuring uniforms and equipment are the right size and fit is also important.
And if a child does become injured, they should always have the proper time to heal so they can restore their full strength, function, and endurance before returning to the game.
Parents should also monitor their kids for any change in mechanics or form, he says — especially young children, which may signal that an injury has occurred.
Addressing back-to-school blues
Just as returning to school can have impacts on physical health, it can also be an emotional time for kids, says child psychologist at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center Joseph McGuire, PhD, MA.
“It is normal for the return to school to come along with strong emotions,” he tells Healthnews. “This might be initial excitement to see friends or favorite teachers, which later turns into anxiety about upcoming tests after a few weeks, or ‘back-to-school blues’ from the school year not starting off as expected.”
Parents can make this time easier for their kids by setting aside time to check in with their child about school and how the transition back to school feels, he says. For many children, these strong emotions will subside as they settle into the routine of school, but he says it can remain difficult for some.
If parents are concerned that “back-to-school blues” or “test anxiety” are sticking around a little too long, he suggests setting up a consultation with a mental health professional for an expert opinion.
And even if a child is doing well through the transition, McGuire says developing healthy habits can provide a strong foundation for a child’s mental health throughout the year. This includes having a regular, structured routine and getting a good night’s sleep.
Since school can sometimes be stressful, parents and children can also work together to develop a plan to use coping strategies to help deal with the stress in a healthy way, he adds. This might include regular exercise, mindfulness, or scheduled “down time.” He says it can also be helpful for parents to set limits on social media at the start of the school year.
“While there’s often much attention focused on the start of the school year, common mental health concerns such as stress, anxiety, and depression can happen throughout the school year,” McGuire says. “It is important to have regular weekly check-ins with children to assess how things are going at school with classes, friends, and teachers. These check-ins provide opportunities to discuss observations about changes in behavior.”
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