Ten Back To School Tips For Parents

Louisiana state law requires children to receive immunizations based on age. Click here to determine what immunizations are required by law and other information.

Even older kids need to begin the shift from those late nights and late rises over the summer months. Decide on the bedtime you feel is appropriate and then require no stimulation up to an hour before that time, including video games and any time on any other electronic devices.

Which brings us to...

While there's lots more time for quality family time over the summer, busy lives can lead to a rut of meals in front of the TV followed by everyone burying their faces in a phone or other kind of screen.

Putting aside time for face to face time without those distractions is a great way to check in with your kids each day. Studies show that spending time fully focused on your children with eye contact actually helps them develop better social skills and a greater sense of their own self - worth. This one hour before bed with no other distractions would be a great time for a board game, reading with your children (yes, even older kids still enjoy reading with their parents!) and prayers before bed.

School activities during and after the school day, athletic practices and events, field trips and picture days and more. Those are just a few of the seemingly - countless activities that occur throughout a school year, and that's not taking into account work responsibilities,  family activities and just spending time together at home. There are number of calendar syncing apps out there that can help sync your many different calendars so everyone's on the same page.

Lots of kids do their homework at the kitchen table, and while there's nothing wrong with that, it's best to create a space that's only used for homework and nothing else. It can as easy a buying an end table and leaving the drawers out to create a small corner desk, or setting up the family computer room or area as the only place homework can be done. An inexpensive dry erase board mounted on the wall can encourage your kids to do their work on a larger canvas than a sheet of looseleaf or worksheet.

Creating a mood with soothing music that's only listened to during homework time is also a great idea; Mozart's music in particular has been scientifically proven to have positive effects on mental ability and serotonin levels in the brain.

We've taken pics of our now 11 and 9 - year old girls on the first day of each school year, which has become a popular tradition on Facebook. Pinterest has lots of creative ideas to help put a new spin on your annual back to school photos.

Click here to find the full calendars for all Acadiana schools and other information like bus schedules and routes.

There are arguments that say kids today are too busy and counter - arguments that say being busy is better than being idle and not productive. As a former teacher, I believe that the heart of the issue is making sure kids understand that their value is not related to achievement.

I also believe that many kids today are so busy with school - related extracurricular activities and athletics that they don't take time for personal enrichment activities. This ranges from taking up an instrument to finding and devoting time to a hobby. Helping kids to have a truly - balanced lifestyle includes encouraging them to take time for themselves in healthy and life - giving ways that don't only involve social media or video games.

This seems like a no - brainer, but we get so busy at the start of the school year that we sometimes overlook the importance of providing the most up - to - date contact and medical information to our children's schools.

You may have taken care of securing your kids' school supplies, but there are many children in the Acadiana area who can't afford the supplies they need to flourish this coming school year. Click here, here, and here to find our how you can help.