Back To School Checklist To Prepare For A Healthy School Year

Newswise — As students gather their pencils and erasers, choose a first day of school outfit and chat with friends about who is in their class, parents are busy making sure they make the grade for a healthy and successful school year.  

“The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that preparing a child for school is about building a foundation of health, so it’s not too late to prepare your child for the beginning of a healthy new school year,” says Katharine Clouser, M.D., a Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital pediatrician and the president of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“Before the first bell rings, parents can ensure success by re-establishing a consistent sleep schedule, fueling learning with a nutritious breakfast, and making sure all is in order with vaccinations and your child’s physical and emotional needs following your annual wellness visit to the pediatrician.”

Hackensack Meridian Children's Health physicians, experts in various back-to-school health topics, are available to provide guidance and support in making sure moms and dads don’t get an “F”  when checking off health-related issues on the important back to school list.  These topics include, but are not limited to:

• Back To School Physicals & Paperwork - It is important for your child to have a yearly physical to make sure they are healthy and prepared for the rigors of learning. This can be done at the start of the school year or around your child’s birthday.  Having a physical before the start of school can be important for children who keep medication at the school nurse to allow time for all medication plan paperwork, like an asthma action plan or allergy action plan  to be completed, prescriptions to be filled and dropped off at the school. 

• Vaccinations Up To Date- In most instances, NJ schools require students to be up to date on their childhood vaccinations.  Vaccines not only protect your children, they help protect the people around them. A check up with a pediatrician will allow parents to verify a child is up to date on vaccinations and receive any required vaccines.

  Additionally, parents can discuss with their child’s doctor whether  additional vaccinations including the flu shot, Covid immunizations and boosters, and HPV vaccines are recommended. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends COVID vaccination for everyone 6 months and older. Children should get fully immunized as soon as they are eligible.

• Student Mental Health Issues - From returning to school after summer break, navigating the changes of a new school, starting school for the first time or getting back into the routine of school can cause anxiety. 1.9% of U.S. adolescents aged 13-18 have an anxiety disorder, with females being more likely than males to be affected. The Teen National Health Interview Survey from 2021 to 2022 found that 21% of adolescents aged 12-17 reported experiencing anxiety symptoms in the past two weeks, with female adolescents being more than twice as likely as males to report anxiety. 

"Anxiety can be a positive thing," explains Ulrick Vieux, D.O., a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Hackensack Meridian Medical Group. "A certain amount of anxiety can lead you to study hard and take school more seriously. However, we're concerned when anxiety leads to maladaptive behavior (behavior that interferes with everyday activities), excessive stress and an inability to function."

Understanding the difference between healthy and unhealthy anxiety is crucial for parents as they support their children through the back-to-school transition.

Recognizing signs of depression in students is also incredibly important for parents and teachers. In 2022, 16% of US teens aged 12–17, or more than 4 million, had at least one major depressive episode. Additionally, 11.5% of US high school students, or more than 2.7 million, experienced major depressive disorder with severe impairment. However, only 3 in 5 teens with depression received mental health treatment.

• Sleep & Impact on Education - Nothing snaps a child back into routine like the need to catch the bus early in the morning! That routine should also include an earlier bedtime prior to the beginning of school, ideally a week out or more.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children ages 3-5 years get 10 to 13 hours of sleep including naps, children ages 6-12 years old get 9-12 hours of sleep and children 13-18 years get 8-10 hours of sleep. 

Poor sleep can lead to poor outcomes in the classroom. Children and adolescents who do not get enough sleep have a higher risk for many health problems, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, poor mental health, and injuries. They are also more likely to have attention and behavior problems leading to less learning in the classroom. In some instances of an ADHD diagnosis may actually be a sleep disorder.

Parents should help their children practice good sleep habits such as making the bedroom a screen time free zone at bedtime. Blue light from cell phones, televisions and computers can disrupt sleep. Back to school is a good time to create a media plan designed to balance screen time with sleep, exercise and other healthy activities. 

See Also: Did you walk or cycle to school as a child? Your children are likely to follow in your footsteps

“It’s not just the blue light of the screen that disrupts sleep,” explains Georges Ghacibeh, M.D., sleep medicine and developmental neurologist at Hackensack University Medical Center.  “Many students' lack of sleep is directly related to the overuse of phones and social media and video games. The addictive nature of seeking more comments and likes, have them repeatedly checking their phone, going to bed late, waking up early and in many cases waking up in the middle of the night.”

• Smart Phone & Electronics Concerns - New York State has joined the growing list of states to ban cell phone use in schools and New Jersey is moving toward restricting cell phone use in schools with certain phone-free policies. The move highlights growing concern over the distraction of such technology as well as the mental health impact these devices may have on kids. 

Studies show limiting phone use can encourage children to engage more with one another and foster better social skills and minimize opportunities for cyber bullying through text and social media.

When it comes to screen time outside of school,  help your children choose high-quality programs or games and help them discern the difference from online sites that promote false information, negative body image or bullying. 

• Backpack Weight - When shopping for kids backpacks lightweight is better. Doctors say a child should not be carrying more than 20% of their body weight in their backpack. Check the weight of your child’s backpack with their books on the bathroom scale. Students should plan to take more trips to their locker rather than carry these heavy weights for extended time. It helps to use a backpack with thick and padded shoulder straps, and a waist belt if possible. 

• Germs & Hygiene - Reminding your kids to practice good hygiene such as frequent handwashing and covering coughs and sneezes is essential to helping to ward off common back to school illnesses. Common infections seen early on in the school year as several children convene again in small spaces include:

• Common colds

• Strep Throat

• COVID-19

• Influenza

• Gastrointestinal illnesses (stomach bug)

• Hand, Food & Mouth Disease

• Conjuctivitis (Pink eye)

• Sports Physicals - Many youth sports require students to have a sports physical before getting clearance to play. Sudden cardiac arrests, including the recent incident with Lebron James’ son, Bronny James and NFL player Damar Hamlin, underscore the importance of a through sports physical.

  Doctors run tests to ensure players' cardiac, pulmonary function are ready for the rigors of their athletic training. This is important because studies show injuries like commotio cordis or cardiac arrest are far more common in youth sports, than professional athletics.

  The national commotio cordis registry found the mean age of reported cases is 15 years old. 

  Experts believe children have a thinner chest wall, making them more susceptible to commotio cordis especially when playing sports like baseball, softball or hockey. A sports physical is also an opportunity to discuss any sports related injuries, and injury prevention.

• Eye Exams - The American Optometric Association recommends yearly eye exams for children. Vision can play a significant role in children’s learning. The American Optometric Association says the following factors affect children’s reading and learning: visual acuity, or the ability to see clearly in the distance like a chalkboard or intermediate distance like a computer screen and up close for reading a book.

  Eye focusing at varying distances, eye tracking, eye teaming, eye-hand coordination and visual perception are all also important portions of vision and learning. Because vision may change frequently during the school years, children should receive an eye examination every year, or more frequently if specific problems or risk factors exist, or if recommended by an optometrist.

  Unfortunately, parents and educators often incorrectly assume that if a child passes a school screening, there is no vision problem.

  The most common vision problem in school-age children is blurry vision or refractive error caused by nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) and astigmatism resulting in blurry vision.

  However, a child who can see clearly and has 20/20 vision can still have a vision problem relating to eye focusing, eye tracking and eye coordination. [NewsWise/VS]

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