Overview

• Specialists advise advancing bedtimes by 15 minutes per day in the week or two before classes, stressing that solid sleep underpins learning and behavior.
• Clinicians warn against nighttime screen use because late exposure disrupts rest and weakens attention, academic performance and emotional regulation.
• Parents are urged to model calm, listen to worries and keep drop‑offs brief without dramatizing, as experts note that children mirror adult anxiety.
• Families should avoid packed agendas in the early days, maintain restorative summer habits, and prepare clothes and backpacks the night before in an orderly space.
• Educators recommend simple visual tools—weekly hangers, routine boards, color‑coded clocks, checklist backpacks and calendars—to build age‑appropriate autonomy from early tasks to self‑managed agendas in secondary school, with a pre‑return meetup with classmates suggested to ease adaptation.