{"id":190378,"date":"2025-08-11T06:52:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T11:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=190378"},"modified":"2025-08-11T06:52:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T11:52:59","slug":"back-to-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/people\/family\/back-to-school\/","title":{"rendered":"A Back-to-School Game Plan for Dads"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-190387\" src=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/08\/school.jpg\" alt=\"An adult dad walks with two children wearing backpacks toward a yellow school bus parked in a lot on a sunny, back-to-school day.\" width=\"650\" height=\"434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/08\/school.jpg 650w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/08\/school-320x214.jpg 320w, https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/08\/school-640x427.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When you\u2019re a busy dad, the first day of school can sneak up on you.<\/p>\n<p>One day you\u2019re taking your family on a road trip through the American West, and then \u2014 BAM!\u2014 it\u2019s the night before the first day of school, and your kids are still going to bed at midnight and you and your wife just realized that all the kids have different school start times, and you haven\u2019t coordinated rides yet.<\/p>\n<p>Kate and I have been sending our kids off to their first day of school after summer vacation for over a decade now. We\u2019ve learned some things along the way to make the transition from vacation mode to school mode a bit smoother. Maybe they\u2019ll help you, too.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h.t3zo0eyj5bav\">Have a Back-to-School Marriage Meeting Two Weeks Before School Starts<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/people\/family\/how-and-why-to-hold-a-weekly-marriage-meeting\/\">We\u2019re big proponents of the weekly marriage meeting.<\/a>&nbsp;A couple of weeks before school starts, Kate and I will have a longer marriage meeting that\u2019s dedicated to getting us both on the same page for back to school.<\/p>\n<p>In the \u201cTo-Dos\u201d section of your marriage meeting, discuss the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Drop-off and pick-up schedules<\/li>\n<li>Back-to-school forms that need filling out<\/li>\n<li>School supplies and clothes shopping<\/li>\n<li>New upcoming bedtimes<\/li>\n<li>Extracurricular activities that kids need to sign up for<\/li>\n<li>Calendar sync-up\n<ul>\n<li>Add all known school events: back-to-school night, parent-teacher conferences, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Map out sports practices, music lessons, tutoring, and activity overlaps<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Homework routines for kids<\/li>\n<li>Any concerns about your kid and the school year ahead<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After you discuss this stuff as a couple, have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/people\/family\/creating-a-positive-family-culture-how-to-plan-and-lead-a-weekly-family-meeting\/\">a family meeting<\/a> where you sync up with your kids and make sure everyone is on the same page regarding schedules and expectations.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h.d6el5zj9u0xp\">Get the School Sleep Schedule Back on Track<\/h2>\n<p>When it comes to shifting from a feral, let-it-all-hang-out summer sleep\/wake schedule to a structured school-year sleep\/wake schedule, there are two philosophies.<\/p>\n<p>You either work to move your kids\u2019 schedules back before school starts so by the time the first day rolls around, they\u2019re on the school schedule, or you don\u2019t do any adjusting and just rip the band-aid off when the alarm clock starts blaring on the first day of the semester.<\/p>\n<p>There is merit to both approaches: one is gentler on the body and mind. The other maximizes the fun summer vibes.<\/p>\n<p>I take something of a moderate tack, having my kids start to push their bedtimes back before school, but not going all the way to the school-year bedtime until school actually begins.<\/p>\n<p>You probably know this already, but kids generally don\u2019t do well with abrupt transitions. Neither do adults, really \u2014 we just have more socially acceptable ways to melt down.<\/p>\n<p>So a week before school starts, we gradually move our kids\u2019 bedtimes earlier by around 15 minutes a night until they\u2019re about an hour off from their school-year bedtime. We let them go to bed at that later-than-usual time the night before school starts, since they\u2019re not going to be able to fall asleep earlier. They\u2019ll be a bit more tired on the first day, but that helps them fall asleep at their new school-year bedtime the next night.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h.cc809bedhx3h\">Create a Get-Out-the-Door Checklist for Your Kids<\/h2>\n<p>One of the recurring friction points we experienced with our kids when they were younger was that they\u2019d forget items they needed to bring to school: snack, water bottle, homework folder. That sort of thing. Because they were six, they\u2019d sometimes have a meltdown in the car about this right when we were dropping them off.<\/p>\n<p>To prevent those 8 AM crashouts from occurring, we wrote a morning checklist on our kitchen whiteboard that our kids had to go through before we got in the car:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Eat breakfast<\/li>\n<li>Brush teeth<\/li>\n<li>Homework folder signed and in backpack<\/li>\n<li>Snack in backpack<\/li>\n<li>Water bottle<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Meltdowns averted.<\/p>\n<p>When your kids get older, nudge them to create their own morning routines.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h.9crkokwxpvo7\">Establish a Confidence-Inspiring Back-to-School Ritual<\/h2>\n<p>Kids can get a little nervous as they contemplate embarking on the uncertain adventure that is the year to come. So establish a ritual that helps them feel more grounded as they go back to school.<\/p>\n<p>We like to talk to our kids about any concerns they have and what their goals are for the year. Then I say a father\u2019s blessing (a prayer) over them. Create a ritual that works for your family.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot going on during back-to-school season. With a bit of planning and gradual, proactive ramp-up efforts, you can create a smoother transition for everyone in the family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you\u2019re a busy dad, the first day of school can sneak up on you. One day you\u2019re taking your family on a road trip through the American West, and then \u2014 BAM!\u2014 it\u2019s the night before the first day of school, and your kids are still going to bed at midnight and you and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":190387,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[42267,42285],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-people"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/08\/school-538x280.jpg","aom":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/08\/school-372x230.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/08\/school-320x214.jpg","reactor-640":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2025\/08\/school-640x427.jpg"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Back-to-School Game Plan for Dads | The Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/people\/family\/back-to-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Back-to-School Game Plan for Dads | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When you\u2019re a busy dad, the first day of school can sneak up on you. 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