The August Re-Entry Plan: How to Rebuild Your Child's Routine Before School Starts

Karin spent most of July telling herself she'd deal with the back-to-school transition when she had to. She had six weeks. Then five. Then three. Then she was staring down the last week of August with a child who was still sleeping until 9:30am, no morning routine in place, and the worst meltdown summer they'd ever had — all compressed into the final ten days. "We sprinted," she said. "We forced everything at once. The sleep, the routine, the uniform — all of it in a week. It ended up being the worst two weeks of our entire summer." The slow-rebuild principle is the antidote to Karin's August. Not a sprint at the end — a gradual ramp that starts early enough that the nervous system can actually adapt, instead of being forced into compliance in crisis mode. Here's the plan.