After a pandemic year of at-home school, the start of school this year is going to be an especially big deal for almost all families whether they have a kindergartner, first grader, middle schooler, or high schooler. Therefore, posts for all of August and September will be about back-to-school issues.

Some ways you can help your child deal with the push to grow up that comes with going to school:

• School pushes your child to grow up. But, growing up is hard to do. Growing up happens one step at a time and sometimes with one step forward and one step backward.
• Let your child know that you notice and like how he is growing up.
• At the same time, remember your child still needs to be “young.” He might want to be cuddled or still have a special blanket or stuffed animal. He might want to play with old toys he liked when he was younger. He might have a tantrum or whine about things. He might want you to do things for him that he usually does for himself, like fix him a snack and deliver it to him. Don’t worry. It is taking all his effort to use his grown up behavior at school where it is needed most right now, but more grown up behavior will show up at home too once he gets used to what he needs to do at school.