While children and parents both are eager and look forward to the vacations, very little is planned for going to school after that vacation. While the euphoria of getting out of the daily drudgery of school and taking a break justifies planning for vacations, the problems that arise during the first week or so immediately after the schools open also merit planning. It is the lack of planning for school, which often makes the first week a pain for both parent and child.

Build up Excitement

Often parents should keep in mind at least a week before school starts that d-day is about to start and plan accordingly. There are tangible as well as intangible things of doing so. Tangible would be getting a new school bag; water bottle and lunch pack if your pocket allows you. It would be best if the children choose these themselves so that they have the eagerness to show it to their classmates once in school. It really does not have to be purchasing everything new which can be a lot of trouble in the case of more than one kid. If done properly just a new pencil sharpener which is different can do the trick. The idea is to give the kid something to show to his/her classmates.

Encourage your child to talk to their best friends over the phone more frequently just before the holidays end so that the desire to meet up increases.
Talk about things that your children like about school, even if it is the recess. Talk about what lunch they would like for school or about the cafeteria or sports. The idea is to stress on the things that the children like and shift their focus away from what they dislike. It could be as simple as discussing what they do in the games period, what are the games that they play etc.

Plan for Evenings and Weekends

For most children getting to school is inherently unpleasant and so parents should always look at what is after school that the children will look forward to. This can be something as simple as watching a cartoon at home or even something like swimming. Make elaborate plans for weekends and if your kid is slightly younger you can even make a list of pleasant things to do and put it up on the refrigerator for about a week or so, so that the idea sinks in.

Get into the Groove

We are all slaves to our habits and so it is best to get into the groove of getting to bed early and then wake up early enough to get ready for school. For mothers it's important to wake up slightly earlier if they are the ones who prepare lunch.

Conclusion

In the end it is all about developing a positive frame of mind towards getting back to school and then backing this frame of mind up with a habit to support it. A little planning will go a long way in making the child move away from a situation where they hate school to a situation where they like it.