10 Tips To Help You Get Your Children Ready For A Successful School Year

By Chris Rappold

1. Establish a bedtime. 
2. Take the time to talk through expectations for the upcoming school year. Give them some lofty goals to shoot for.
3. Create some rewards for attaining and surpassing their goals.
4. Make sure they have everything they need for school.
5. Make a schedule that will provide ample time for study, sporting activities and unscheduled down time.
6. Engage their help in planning a menu that will give them the fuel they will need to excel. 
7. Chores – decide what chores if any will be added to their schedule this school year. We always teach with increased rank comes increased responsibility. This is vital to helping them learn the skills of taking personal responsibility. 
8. Include them in on decisions about extracurricular activities. Learning with guidance how much they can or can’t handle sets them up for success later in life.
9. Schedule family time first! With everyone’s schedule getting busier. It is important that family priorities; church or temple, family meetings, meal times, special events, birthdays, trips to see relative etc are added to the calendar first. Failing to do so will cause a lot of headaches down the road.
10. Keep your sense of humor. Know that your perfectly crafted plan is doomed to be off by as much as 20 percent. Do your best to keep the family on track. Remember that to win you don’t have to be perfect just continually moving in the right direction.  The term one of my teachers taught me is called Rigid Flexibility.      

Christopher Rappold is the Facilitator of the BullyGuard program and Chief Potential Grower at Personal Best Karate.  For questions or future column suggestions please email him at Founder@Personalbestkarate.com.