Adjusting to a back to school schedule for kids heading back to the classroom

FLINT, Mich. -

Dylan Brown is not just excited, but anxious for his 4th grade year to start.

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"Going back to school is fun because I haven't seen my friends in person in a long time," Dylan says.

After months of virtual learning and isolation, it's a sentiment a lot of kids share this year, says Hurley Child Therapist, Dr. Recco Richardson.

"Many children are, they're looking forward to going back to school, for that main reason, to be around their friends to get out the house, and to have more academic support for their academic studies."

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So, there a lot of reason kids may be more enthusiastic to get back to the old grind and stop working from home than a lot of adults are.

"Adults that work from home, usually those are pretty high tech, more professional jobs, where they don't need as much technical support. Whereas, a kid working from home, on a computer for the very first time, it's hard to ask a question, you've gotta negotiate and maneuver things and you've got to teach yourself sometimes," Dr. Richardson says.

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Dylan's mother says it was tough on him, "Last year, he kind of struggled with it online. He struggled with it."

Even kids' schedules were different last year. When you add that on top of the usual struggle of moving from a summer to school year schedule, you may wonder if kids will be able to adjust.

"They'll make the adjustment, and they won't miss a beat. They'll be back in stride, within a week or two," Richardson says.

Ideally, to help kids transition to the actual school day hours and different sleep schedules you should start making changes weeks before school starts.

"You want to start getting them back to bed earlier and earlier in the evening," Richardson says, "So that they can get used to going to bed early and waking up early."

But the school day is not about the hours you keep. It's routine and that is something that's subject to change in these pandemic times, from mask mandates, to social distancing guidelines , and when it comes to making the adjustments, Richardson says, "Parents play a major role in how children deal with anything, whether it's divorce, returning back to school, drama, death, whatever, parents play more of a role than many people will realize."

That means parents set the tone and have a huge impact on how well kids can roll with the changes.