Back-to-School season is upon us and with all the hustle and bustle of getting school supplies together, the latest fall fashions, and schedules in order, it’s easy to overlook the simple staples that can help make the school year and safe and healthy one.
Here’s a few tips to make sure you start the year off right!
Make sure to keep your hands clean.
Of course the typical health rules stand – wash your hands, etc. – but with the beginning of school also comes the flu season. While we all need our sick days, sometimes illness can spread before it’s even showing. One way to stay on top of germs is to carry a mini-bottle of Purell hand sanitizer or to keep some at your desk. It’s a quick and easy method to feel fresh and focused.
Get your sleep.
It may sound overrated, but getting a good night’s sleep is the best way to make it through the week. Homework can take a long time and we all want to catch our favorite episodes of this Fall’s killer TV line-up, but without sleep, 8 hours is the recommended number (but at least try to get 6!), the next day will be that much harder to get through. Setting a regular bedtime, whether it’s 9 or 12, will help keep consistency and get our bodies as refreshed as possible.
Eat breakfast.
We’ve all seen those Frosted Mini-Wheat commercials, right? The ones that encourage us to eat well to help us remain focused and interactive the rest of the day? It’s true. Can you just picture yourself staring at the blackboard and the only thing on your mind is your grumbling stomach? Not only can hunger be distracting, but just like a lack of sleep, a lack of food results in a lack of energy.
Keep your backpack balanced.
No matter how hard we try, we always end up with something extra in our backpacks, adding a little more weight on top of a lot of weight. And that can’t be good for our backs. So, to protect your back avoid the temptation to sling your backpack over one shoulder or wear a messenger bag on one side. Balance the weight of the bag evenly across your body. For the traditional backpack, wear both straps. For a messenger bag, wear it across your body. Too much weight on one side can cause serious damage later on.
Don’t bring expensive things to school.
Unfortunately, this means it is best to leave our iPods at home. Really, anything of value should be kept at home; school combinations can be shared, things can fall out of bags, and items can be left behind. The safest bet is to avoid the issue altogether. Cell phones are the main exception. They can come in handy for keeping in touch with parents and making calls in emergencies, but these, too, should be kept in lockers, or bookbags. We wouldn’t want to lose those either!
Use the buddy system.
It may sound silly, but it’s the simple things that are crucial to remember. We all learn it around the first grade when we walk to the bathroom with the girl who sits next to us in class. Don’t go too far alone. And the rule stands much the same no matter what grade we’re going into. Don’t walk home alone.
If you’re staying after school, make sure someone knows.
Sometimes we have to do our own thing. This doesn’t mean we should disappear. Whether we let someone know the morning of or call home after school, we should let an adult know where we are at all times. Even if that means telling the coach after a quick run to the locker, the best way to stay safe is to make sure someone knows where to find you.
For older kids: If you bring your cell phone to school, it’s a good idea to utilize the “in case of emergency” settings. If you don’t have a specific command on your phone for it, simply typing “ICE” into your parents or guardians contact will help should something happen.
For younger kids: It can often be more difficult for parents and guardians to keep in contact with younger students. If something changes during the day and you need someone else to pick up your child, be sure to call the school and let your child know or institute a code word. For instance, if your child doesn’t see you, but your neighbor says “your mom wants me to pick you up,” the child can ask for the password to know it’s safe to go with them.
Label your belongings.
Whether it’s your lunchbox or your calculator, it’s important to make sure your initials are somewhere on your 
school supplies. In a classroom full of students, it’s easy to lose things or leave them behind. Putting your initials on something makes it that much more likely you’ll get it back if it ever is lost. Monogrammed backpacks, for instance, are a great way to separate your bag from the others and make them easy to find and hard to lose. Initials are a safer tactic in that strangers can’t find out critical information like a student’s full name. This being said, writing your name on the inside of something, like a backpack or lunchbox, is considerably safer.
And the final way to ensure a safe and healthy start to the year is to remember the adults around are there to help. If there’s word of any type of trouble – whether it’s a rumor of a fight, an instance of bullying, or someone who got hurt at recess – be sure to tell the teacher or a responsible adult. Adults might not see everything, so it’s in working together that we can all have a great back-to-school season.
