Help your children get back into a school mindset

CLEVELAND - The countdown is on before kids head back to school. Stores want you to think about shopping, but swimming is still the focus for many families.

"Oh it's not on my mind at this point," dad Jeffery Hutchinson said.

"It's tucked away in your mind but you just want to keep enjoying the last days of summer while they're here," mom Demian Steele said.

Steele and her children are still focused on family fun at the beach. You can still enjoy everything has to offer, but doctors say gradually adjust the time you get up and out of bed.

"Get them up earlier in the morning so they're more tired in the evening and get them to bed earlier in the evening so that they're getting closer to that school schedule," Akron Children's Hospital Pediatrician Dr. Cooper White said.

Cooper said your children need about ten hours of sleep.

Hutchinson tries to change up the sleep schedule about three weeks before school starts, but he still has quite the description for the first day.

"Controlled chaos. Believe me. That's how it is," Hutchinson siad.

Another problem is attitude. Some kids simply don't have any interest in going back to school.

"I'm excited for my teachers," Jordan Hutchinson said.

Every school year offers something new - new classmates, a new teacher, and maybe even a new school. Doctors say look for behavioral changes or nervous tendencies. White said there are easy ways to deal with the anxiety.

"I think reading books with children is a very effective way to raise issues with children. So children's books related to going back to school might be a very appropriate way to discuss the topic. Usually children's literature about those kinds of things have a happy ending," White said.

Simple steps you can start now for a happy school year.