ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, September 11, 1995                   TAG: 9509110007
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


START THE SCHOOL YEAR OFF RIGHT

What can parents do to ensure a good beginning to a new school year?

Start a routine as soon as possible. Before school starts, wake your child at the customary school-day hour, and change her bedtime to match. It takes a few days for a child's sleep habits to adjust, so don't wait until the night before.

Agree on hours for dinner, showers, after-school activities and homework - then stick to them. Sticking to a routine is often a problem. Calling family meetings to address particular issues as they come up helps temporarily, but there is no replacement for direct supervision.

Talk about issues that are perennial school-year problems - like how much TV is allowed - early, and devise strategies to deal with them. You could create a ``bank'' of a number of viewing hours per evening or week that a child might use as she wished, provided homework is completed. Or create a list of acceptable programs from which to choose.

Get organized - for the first day and every day thereafter. To avoid last-minute rushing, get your child into the habit of setting out his clothes the night before and putting away his homework in his backpack.

This means doing as much as possible before school starts. If you know what supplies your child will need - and in many schools you can get a list from the office - buy them ahead of time. And review the school's student handbook.

Take your kid to school and tour the campus. Check out the bathrooms, the main office, the guidance counselor and where you will drop him off and pick him up.

Leave a little earlier for school the first day and every day for about two weeks. That's about how long teachers and administrators figure it takes for the rush of back-to-school to ease around campus. If your child is in elementary school, you might consider sticking around a few extra minutes to ease her fears. While most parents do that with their younger kids, they don't always consider the option with an older elementary-age child.

Provide a quiet area for your child to do his homework. Agree on a time for him to do it, and how much help, if any, you should provide.

Make a habit of talking about school every day, not just for the first week. Don't be put off by a child's initial answers of nothing happened, nothing learned. Ask specific questions, such as: What was the best thing that happened to you today? The worst?

Fill out emergency contact cards and any other papers sent from school as soon as possible. Designate a spot - a counter or tabletop - where each child will lay out papers parents need to see, sign or send back to school each day.

Copy all those school holidays onto your family calendar now, so you can plan in advance for child care where needed. Some couples go through the list ahead of time and decide how to split coverage of the school breaks so neither has to lose too much work time. Sometimes you can get creative with a friend whose children have the same days off. You take care of all children one time, she'll cover for you the next.

Make sure your child eats breakfast. It's very difficult to concentrate when hungry. Try to make that meal as nutritious as possible. All public schools offer breakfast. If you can't afford it, apply for help. (Forms are sent home with the children during the first week of school.)

Discuss the dress code with your child before starting school. Know the student dress code - look for it in the student handbook, if there is one - and make sure your child follows it.

Meet your child's teacher or send her a note. Wait a couple of weeks for the back-to-school rush to die down, but do establish the lines of communication early. Don't wait until there's a problem.



 by CNB