INDIANA – Each year, on the first few days of school, students seem excited and ready to start their school day. However, later in the week or sometimes even that day, students begin discussing how they feel tired or hungry. Then, suddenly, they are angry and upset. Sometimes they are not sure what they need or want. The child knows that something does not feel right.
This is the perfect time for the Youth First Mental Health Professional, social worker, or counselor in the building to discuss emotions and positive coping skills. After the child is calm, the Youth First Mental Health Professional can ask multiple essential questions, such as how many hours of sleep the child got the night before, whether they ate breakfast that morning, and whether the family has a consistent schedule.
When students don’t get enough sleep, they have difficulty learning and managing their emotions at school. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that children aged 6 to 12 years get between 9 and 12 hours of sleep each day. Teens ages 13-18 should sleep 8-10 hours per day.
For example, if the child has to be at school at 8:30 a.m. and is 7 years old, they should go to bed between 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 pm., depending on the individual child’s sleep needs. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Children who get enough sleep have a healthier immune system and better school performance, behavior, memory, and mental health.”
According to the CDC Healthy Schools, eating a nutritious breakfast helps enhance cognitive ability, school attendance, and mood improvement. Children might eat 4-5 meals daily due to the smaller size of their stomachs and their higher metabolisms. Including children in meal planning, eating meals as a family, and having open discussions regarding the importance of a meal schedule will help children understand the importance and participate in the plan. If you have any questions about nutrition, please contact your child’s pediatrician, nutritionist, or dietician for recommendations on children’s and teen nutrition.
Parents need to involve their children in establishing a consistent routine. The schedule needs to be straightforward to understand. Children feel empowered and motivated to participate in a new routine when they can make suggestions and ask questions about the schedule. The schedule needs to be in an accessible location, such as on the refrigerator.
According to Dr. Laura Markham, “Structure and routines teach kids how to control themselves and their environments constructively.” Children thrive on structure and like to know what’s happening at different times of the day. They want to know what time they eat meals, when they go to bed, and when they wake up in the morning.
Establishing consistent routines can help enhance a child’s mental health and well-being, increase their desire to complete assigned tasks, teach time management and responsibility, and foster better connections and communication between the parent and child.
Lori Powell, MSW, LCSW, is a Youth First Mental Health Professional at Vogel Elementary School in Vanderburgh County. Youth First, Inc., is a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening youth and families. Youth First provides over 100 highly trained mental health professionals, primarily master’s-level social workers, prevention programs, parent engagement coordinators, and bilingual support personnel to 126 schools across 14 Indiana counties. Over 53,000 youth and families are served each year by Youth First’s school-based social work and community programs, which promote mental health, prevent substance misuse, and maximize student success. To learn more about Youth First, visit youthfirstinc.org or call 812-421-8336.
