As kids and teachers get ready to head back into the classroom, Oakland Family Services has a few tips to help families ease the transition from summer to school.

1. get into a routine.

Solid morning and evening routines (and sleep schedules!) are key to making sure children head off to school ready to learn. Don’t wait until the night before school starts to try a new routine — getting your child acclimated a few weeks in advance makes those first school mornings run much smoother.

Emily Mandigo, Oakland Family Services’ assistant director of treatment services, finds that incorporating small games and learning activities can make routines more fun for kids.

“With our son, we race to do things, or we’ll count how many books are we going to read, and we’ll line those up,” she said during an interview with Channel 20 Detroit.

Click here for sample routines, visual schedules and more helpful ideas from our Early Childhood Parenting Resource Hub.

2. start to socialize.

Setting up playdates with classmates before school starts can help your child dip their toes back into socializing with peers.

“Kids learn through socialization,” said Oakland Family Services President and CEO Jaimie Clayton during an interview with Fox 2 Detroit. “… Kids kind of check each other and help learn how to be together, which helps them in a classroom. So much of what we see, especially in preschool, is how they interact with each other and how they interact, and they need that practice.”

If you haven’t connected with other families in your child’s class yet, it might be a good idea to expose your child to other children with a trip to a playground or another public space for kids.

3. get involved.

Good parent-teacher relationships encourage student success. Parents can help start things off on the right foot by taking a tour, meeting their children’s teachers, and learning teachers’ preferred ways of communicating, Clayton said. While continuity between school and home is important, parents should also make sure their kids have room to grow and learn through trial and error.

“Let your kids make mistakes,” Clayton said. “Let them try things. Don’t kind of hover and try to correct everything they’re doing in school. Part of learning is just trying.”

4. Manage expectations.

Mandigo reminds parents to check in with their own anxieties and expectations for the upcoming school year, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The expectations you may have had for your child pre-pandemic might be different than it is now, and that’s OK,” she said. “It wasn’t just your kid that had an altered education experience for the last few years — it was all the kids. … [If] we’re behind, it doesn’t mean we’re always going to be behind.”

Oakland Family Services’ Children’s Learning Centers in Pontiac and Walled Lake are now enrolling preschoolers. Click here to learn more.