School holidays can be fantastic, and even a relief. After a long school year, or even school term, many kids are tired, emotional and just plain over it. And honestly, many parents are as well. Families look forward to days of less structure, more freedom and more time for family fun.
But sometimes, kids can also struggle with the change to the school holidays – even if they’ve been looking forward to them. And then they struggle again when it’s time to head back into the new school year. Each of these transitions – the transition to school holidays, and the transition to school again – might be times when your kids need more support than you expect.
Experts agree that kids are extremely sensitive to environmental changes – for example changes to their routines, mealtimes, bedtimes and even the food they might normally eat. These can all lead to significant changes in both mood and behaviour.
If you’re finding this with your kids, here are some evidence-informed strategies to help support your children (and yourself) as they shift into holidays and then back out of them when school starts back up again.
Tips to cope with the transition into school holidays
The end of term often arrives with excitement and relief – but also exhaustion and big emotions. Moving from the structure of school into weeks of free times feels liberating, but for some children, it can also be overwhelming.
Here’s how to support a gentle landing into holiday mode.
Allow decompression time
Children have often worked hard to hold it all together throughout the school term. They’ve been focusing on learning, homework, social expectations, friendships and a lot of other factors that contribute to their emotional and mental load. So it’s not surprising that when holidays start, many kids unravel a little bit.
Give them space to unwind before putting too much on their plates. This might mean a quiet weekend (or longer), extra rest or downtime without scheduled activities. Some families we’ve worked with have chosen to have pajama days, or just to have slow mornings for a while. The goal is to let your children reset before the holiday rhythm begins.
Keep some light structure (without over planning)
Holidays don’t need to be scheduled hour by hour. In fact, this is something that most people love about them. But children do benefit from predictable anchors. Research shows that predictable routines can positively impact children’s cognitive, social and emotional development – yes, even during the holidays.
You might consider keeping regular mealtimes, a consistent bedtime (even a consistent range is good) and a few daily rituals. These might be a morning walk, reading time or even preparing dinner together each night.
These things help prevent dysregulation and they’ll even make the return to full routine when you transition back to school easier.
Manage the shift in screen time
Screen use often increases during the holidays. That’s just being realistic. But going from very structured school days with limited screen time to unstructured holiday days with unlimited digital time can disrupt your kids’ sleep, mood and behaviours.
Research shows that total bans on digital time aren’t proven to work all that well. But what does work is helping kids learn to self-regulate. Of course, this is a learned skill so when they’re young the best approach is to set clear, collaborative expectations during the holidays.
This might be:
- Screens after outside play only.
- Defined times when no screens are allowed (such as before bed, after lunch or in the morning).
- Organising some screen-free family activities.
These boundaries give children some freedom and a sense of autonomy but don’t allow the screen time to take over completely.
Plan for connection (but don’t overcrowd the calendar)
Kids can feel isolated when the daily social contact to friends at school disappears. These feelings of loneliness can even have physical effects, such as poor sleep and worsened physical health.
To counteract this, try to arrange occasional catch ups with school friends, sports friends, friends from church or other kids in the neighbourhood. Be sure to leave plenty of room for relaxation as well of course.
For kids who might be neurodivergent or find social settings tricky, start with shorter playdates, be sure to give them a heads-up as to what the playdate or outing might involve and build in quiet recovery time afterwards. (If it’s helpful, do the same for yourself!)
Maintain core wellbeing habits
Holiday mode shouldn’t mean that you abandon all healthy habits – and your kids shouldn’t either. Aim to keep some of those core wellbeing habits such as:
- A reasonably consistent sleep time, which is important for cognitive functioning, mood, mental health and cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and metabolic health.
- Daily movement (bike rides, park plays, trampoline jumping), which can boost your child’s mood and give them more energy among other great benefits.
- Nutritious meals and snacks, which provides your kid with physical, mental and emotional benefits.
- A calming bedtime routine, giving your kids better sleep and all the benefits that come with that.
These small habits protect energy, mood and behaviour and will help your kids have more peace, relaxation and enjoyment across the entire school break.
Transitioning back to school after the holidays
As holidays come to a close, many families experience the opposite challenge – shifting from the freedom of the school holidays back to a highly structure routine of the school term. This transition can be challenging as well, and a strategic lead up can make the routine much smoother.
Here are our tips for an easier transition back to school after the holidays.
Start resetting sleep and wake times gradually
A sudden 6.30am wake up after weeks of slow mornings is tough on everyone. To make things a little easier, start adjusting your child’s bedtime and wake up times gradually in the week before school returns.
One great way to do this is to start bringing bedtime earlier in 15- pr 20-minute increments, particularly if their bedtime has gotten progressively later throughout the holidays. At the same time, start bringing their wake up time progressively forward in a similar time increment.
Small changes over several days are easier and kinder to everyone than a single hard reset.
Re-establish your morning and evening routines
This works hand-in-hand with our previous tip, but it’s important to set it out separately because routines act as a scaffold for our children’s sense of comfort and safety. And this is important in times of change, such as the transition back to school.
In the final week of school holidays begin reintroducing the school morning routine, for example, ‘breakfast, teeth, get dressed, pack bag, out the door’. You can also introduce an evening wind down routine as well.
Some other routines you can focus on might be regular mealtimes, your ‘get ready’ checklist, laundry and bed making chores and the like.
Whatever routines will support your child to feel prepared and confident on their first day back at school are a great idea as they’ll help reduce first-day chaos while also supporting emotional regulation.
Have good communication around the transition back to school
Talking about the return to school openly is a great way to ease nerves and prepare kids for the transition. You can (and should) invite genuine, unpressured conversations.
You might ask, ‘What are you looking forward to when you head back to school?’ ‘Is there anything that’s worrying you?’ Or ‘What’s something you hope will happen this year?’
If your child needs a bit more support in knowing what to expect you can use a visual planner to map out what the first week will look like, and if you’re transitioning into a new school head over for a walk around the campus if you can. These can help to ease school anxiety and jitters.
Help them reconnect socially before the term begins
Despite our best efforts, school holidays do often interrupt friendships, and this can heighten back-to-school nerves. To ease these feelings and support the transition you could:
- Arrange a catch up with a school friend or classmate.
- Visit the school grounds or classroom if possible.
- Look through school photos or talk about your child’s favourite teachers and school friends.
Each of these can help to gently reactive a sense of belonging and build their social connections.
Prepare practical logistics early
A lot of first-day stress comes from last minute scrambling. Looking for the lost shoe, packing the school bag and filling water bottles. It’s a great idea to get ahead of these problems by preparing practical logistics early.
A few days before school starts check that all the uniforms still fit, pack the school bag (or pack up the book pack in carrying bags), ensure everything is labelled with your child’s name, confirm timetables for sports or clubs and let your child know who will be dropping them off or picking them up and where (or if they’ll be walking or taking the bus, ensure they know how to do that).
All of this practical preparation will reduce the mental load and emotional overwhelm and make for a much smoother transition on the day.
Expect an adjustment period
Even with all the best preparation, the first week or two (or maybe even three) may be tricky. Your child may be far more tired than usual or clingy and may experience a lot of emotional ups and downs. This is normal.
Try to be extra patient and give support and rest time where and when it’s needed. And remember, your child will take their cues from you. If you project calm, positivity and awareness of how you’re feeling, they will too, and this will promote feelings of safety as well.
Creating calmer beginnings and endings
Moving into and out of school holidays can feel chaotic. But these tips – used with intention, steady communication and gentle preparation – can become predictable touchpoints that help your children feel safe and supported, even during change.
If you’re feeling the pressure this school holiday season, remember you’re not alone. Reach out to our Young Minds team or browse our free online resources. We’re here to help!