August is almost upon us, which signifies a few things in the US. First and foremost, school is just around the corner (and even starting up in a few days for some schools!). Most parents are probably glad that it’s here while most students are dreading the end of their summer.

But August also means that the back half of the year is truly here. A slew of holidays are on their way, from Labor Day all the way up until New Years. With 4 months of holidays packed back to back to back to back, you can bet people are looking forward to time off here and there with their loved ones and friends.

With back to school, though, you’ve got to make sure your kids are prepared.

School supplies aren’t necessarily expensive, meaning you can take your kids to the store to pick out what they need or even want for the upcoming year. After all, letting them decide on the things they enjoy will only make them enjoy school more.

Before anything else, make sure they get enough notebooks and pencils/pens. You really can’t have enough of these. But after you’ve completed your actual supplies list, it’s nice to let your children pick out a few new outfits to go back to school in so that they feel confident in themselves and their expression of personality.

One thing I like to do in the weeks leading up to school is have a few cardboard boxes set out for each of my kids in order to have them “own” what supplies they have and still need. This makes it visible so that they can see it’s there and complete (or empty and in need of items). Rather than have them search last minute for everything the day before school, it’ll be right there in their labeled cardboard boxes.

Another thing about returning to school is being ready for everything. You can just let your kids stay up all night every single day of summer leading up to school. Rather, ween them off their summer sleep schedule by enforcing a bedtime in the week or two leading up to school and make them get up closer and closer to when they normally will. This will lead to a gradual transition for them and they’ll be more than ready come Day 1 of school. There’s nothing worse than being underprepared and tired the first week back.