Back to School Guide

School time is here! Hallelujah! Ha-ha—just kidding! 🙂

How many of you are ready to start the school year again? Although I don't have any of my own kids headed to school this year, I can't believe how fast summer went! I will be joining you all in the back-to-school blues in a few months, but this time, Elli is headed to college. 🥹 I am not ready to talk about that quite yet! ha!

Going back to school can be overwhelming—for our kids AND for us as parents. New teachers, new routines, friendships, activities, expectations… it’s a big transition for everyone.

Over the years, there are a few things we’ve learned both as parents and here at The Giggling Life that can make a BIG difference in helping our kids start the school year feeling confident, supported, and ready for what’s ahead.

And because we know how busy this season is, we’re keeping this short & sweet! We actually put together a FREE Parent’s Back-to-School Guide that goes much deeper into all of this, with

practical ideas you can actually use at home.

Back to School Guide.pdf

Download PDF • 14.33MB

But here are a few things we want every parent to remember as we head back to school:

Set goals together.

Take some time to talk with your kids about what they want this year to look like. What are they excited about? What do they want to accomplish? What might they want to work on?

Dreaming & setting goals is supposed to be FUN. Let them dream big and remind them that you believe in them!

Start with gratitude.

You guys know how much we believe in gratitude around here! 🌻

It doesn’t have to be complicated. Ask what they’re grateful for while eating breakfast, doing their hair, packing backpacks, or driving to school.

Starting the day looking for the GOOD can change the entire tone of the day.

Give them a place for their thoughts.

We LOVE journals at GL!

Kids have big feelings, worries, dreams, successes, frustrations, and things they’re trying to figure out. Giving them a place to write, draw, dream, or simply get those thoughts out can be such a powerful tool.

LISTEN.

This might be one of the most important things we can do.

Our kids don’t always need us to fix everything. Sometimes they just need to know that we are there and that what they have to say matters.

Ask the questions. Put the phone down. Listen to the little things—because that’s how they learn they can come to us with the big things too.

Ask better questions.

Instead of just asking, “How was school?” try:

What made you laugh today?

What was something hard?

What are you proud of?

Who were you kind to?

What are you grateful for?

What are you excited about tomorrow?

You might be surprised how much more you hear!

Lead by example.

Our kids are ALWAYS watching us.

If we want them to practice gratitude, let them see us practice gratitude.

If we want them to apologize, let them hear us apologize.

If we want them to believe in themselves, they need to hear us speak to ourselves with respect, too.

We have such an incredible opportunity to SHOW our kids what we hope they carry into the world.

Remind them that they can do hard things.

There will be hard days this school year. Friendship changes. Bad grades. Big emotions. Mistakes. Disappointments.

We don’t have to remove every obstacle for our kids.

We can be there, support them, listen to them, and remind them:

You are capable. You are brave. You can figure this out.

Every time they work through something difficult, they’re building confidence for the next hard thing that comes their way.

There is SO much more we could say about this, which is exactly why we created our FREE Parent’s Back-to-School Guide! 🌻

Inside, we go deeper into the things we’ve learned over the years, the lessons we teach here at the farm, and simple ways you can help your kids build gratitude, resilience, confidence, kindness, and a positive mindset throughout the school year.

Because at the end of the day, none of us are going to create the perfect school year.

There will be forgotten lunches, hard mornings, friendship drama, big emotions, and days when everyone loses their patience.

Just keep showing up.

Keep listening.

Keep looking for the good.

And keep reminding your kids to believe in themselves, be kind, be brave, and keep growing.

Have an AMAZING school year, you guys!

XOXO,Kristi 🤎

The Giggling Life Care Farm