For the Love of Health

Acing the Back to School Transition with Dr. Chelsea Hastry

• ChristianaCare • Season 3 • Episode 3

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0:00 | 12:33

Back to school season is already here, and although it is just the first week of August, we know the last days of summer go fast. From sleep schedules to screen time, back to school can be overwhelming.

Joining us for some Back to School Tips and Recommendations is Primary Care Provider Dr. Chelsea Hastry. She shares her guidance on how to ease into those transitions and make sure your child has a great first couple weeks back to school.

Chelsea Hastry, M.D., is a dedicated and enthusiastic double certified physician in both internal medicine and pediatrics. In her role, she works with patients from babies to the elderly and is passionate about taking care of the entire family.

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Back-to-School Transition Preparations

Speaker 1

Every family is going to have a different take on what works for them and what is their ideal.

Speaker 2

You're listening to For the Love of Health, a podcast about delivering care and creating health, brought to you by Christiana Care. Hello everyone, I'm Jason Tokarski.

Speaker 3

And I'm Megan McGerman. Welcome to For the Love of Health brought to you by Christiana Care.

Speaker 2

This episode releases on August 7th, which means there's three to four weeks left of summer. Is your family ready for back to school yet?

Speaker 3

The transition to a new school year can be challenging for all families, whether you're getting that backpack for preschool or packing up for college. Here to help us get prepared for a new year is Dr Chelsea Hastrey from ChristianaCare Primary Care. Chelsea, thank you so much for your time today. Yeah, thank you guys for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm excited. We are three to four weeks out from the first day of school, depending on what district your child attends. A lot of people are thinking that's so much time. But is it that much time when you're talking about getting your feet back into the routine?

Speaker 1

So as a parent, I don't think that's a lot of time. I don't know about you, but when I was younger I really thought like the summer lasted forever. As a parent, I feel like it flies by. How are we entering August already and, you know, thinking about school transitions. It's not a lot of time because kids need like that gradual change. They need lighter adjustments. You can't, you know zero to 100 start the next day of school and be hours off from your timeline and schedule and routine changes. So I do think that it's a good time to start thinking about those things.

Speaker 3

So every child is different. Obviously, I have very young kids Jason has high school and college aged kids so the transitions will be different for every family. But what are you hearing in your practice as kind of those universal concerns about getting everybody back to the routine?

Addressing School Transition Anxieties

Speaker 1

Absolutely. I think every parent is always worried about the transition and you know how their kid's going to handle it. Every age comes with different stressors. I always say you know sometimes little kids, little problems, big kids, bigger problems, and so I think it's important to highlight that and have parents have an open conversation. Parents are worried about how is their kid going to adjust to kindergarten and middle school? How are they going to switch classes? Now they have a locker. They're supposed to be carrying all these things.

Speaker 1

I think there's different things that you start to worry about differently as your kid ages and it's stressful at any age. So I will say it's a different time. Right when you and I were in middle school and high school, we had 20 textbooks and you had to change classes and you had to put them in. But a lot of things are on tablets now. It is a different world. So I think that's also hard for parents because your experience when you were in those stages is a little bit different.

Speaker 1

I think it's helpful for parents to give their anecdotes and give their stories, especially to ease these transitions. I remember on my first day of middle school I was nervous about X, y or Z. You know, all my friends went to a different school and I had to figure out you know, lunch and things like that helps them to. You know, talk about that. And oh, my mom went through this, my dad went through this, my parent, you know, had the same stressors, but it's also different and we have to acknowledge that, that it's not going to be exactly how you or I went through those schools, because it's different.

Speaker 2

Now, and it's not even just necessarily those massive transitions between like grade to middle or middle to high school. There's also students who are changing schools completely in the middle of that, completely throwing off their social circles and everything. Are there any tricks or knowledge that they can take going into that on their first day?

Speaker 1

So I think it's just helpful to you know, acknowledge it, talk about it ahead of time and, as a parent, open the communication because I think we can talk about how it's stressful to go back to school the first week, but really the whole year is going to be stressful. They're going to encounter different things and so if you can start talking about it now in the summer, you know it's going to be a new school. You're going to have new friends Like you can set those goals Maybe. What are you interested in? Do you want to try volleyball? That's a great way to make friends. Are you interested in musical theater? Do you think you might want to try out for the show? Like, how can we get you goals and figure out timelines and what we have to do? You know logistics.

Speaker 1

A lot of times sports require lots of, like, state mandated forms and if you're a parent that's new to Delaware or new to this, you know type of sport in school. You might not even know that and a lot of times I'll hear you know the next year that, oh, I didn't get to do soccer because I didn't have my sports forms and that always crushes me as a pediatrician because I would have helped them figure out how to do that form. So I always bring it up at every physical Like if you think that you're potentially going to want to do sports like, let's have that form on file. It is required for the state to be able to participate, so I always make sure to bring it up. But those are things that you can kind of do. If you're switching schools. How do you know? How can you help your kid adjust? I think it's good to find friends with similar interests.

Speaker 2

And let's talk about those forms for a minute, with the sports physicals and all. Are they already too late? Have they missed the window for this school year?

Speaker 1

So no, they're good for 12 months. So sometimes you'll have the kid that their physical just happens to be March every year and now in the fall they think, oh, I didn't have my physical, it's September, I can't do soccer, I can't do football, but if they did their sports form in March, it's still good for 12 months. So I try to do it at every physical, no matter what time of the year, because everybody's annual physical ends up being due a different time of the year, so it doesn't matter when it is. It doesn't mean you need to have a new appointment A lot of times you know I'll call people ahead of time, so you actually don't need this appointment. I think as long as you're up to date with an annual physical and seeing your pediatrician once a year for preventative things and bringing up that you are interested in sports, you should be okay.

Speaker 3

So not every parent listening to this needs to add call the primary care provider to their to-do list if they've already taken care of that Correct.

Speaker 1

Correct as long as you have mentioned, as long as you've been in in the year and you have mentioned that you wanted to do sports. That is the difference. Sometimes physicals don't always include all the extra questions that a sports form physical will require, and so you know we can, we can call, we can talk about that, we can do those extra things that might be needed.

Adjusting Sleep Schedules Gradually

Speaker 3

But I try to do it at every physical, just to have in case that you know, in the spring I want to do lacrosse and you're able to do it. So there's all of that transitional anxiety. But I think, regardless of age, every kid probably was staying up a little too late, sleeping in more than they would if they needed to get on that bus. How do you have that sleep conversation? Because I think even adult sleep schedules are a little different, totally different.

Speaker 1

Totally different and it's fun, right, it's okay. I think that as long as you're getting your recommended amounts of sleep, summer is a time to like take a break and relax a little bit. But the school year, it comes a time where you do need to look at it a little bit more closely. I think you know some middle schools start at six in the morning and now if you're thinking how do I get my kid ready? You know I got to get up at this time.

Speaker 1

Working backwards to get their recommended hours of sleep Looks like a very different bedtime than it is right now in the summer. So I think it's good to kind of like you know, plan two to three weeks out and involve your kid right, you know, say you know you want to play football and we know that you won. So you know concentration is so important with sleep. So explaining why it's important is helpful, but then including them on, how do we get there? So, okay, it looks like your bedtime is like 9.30, 10. But really, if we need you to be asleep by 9, you know how can we get there and work backwards. So I usually say two to three weeks is great. You can move the bedtime up every 15, 20 minutes a couple days. 15, 20 minutes, a couple of days. You can't do it overnight. If I told you you had to go to bed at 630 tomorrow, you'd be like in your bed, like twiddling your thumbs and you can't fall asleep that way. So I think kids are the same and they just need that gradual adjustment.

Managing Screen Time and Homework

Speaker 2

One of the biggest, most controversial things that parents are probably dealing with with their children is screen time. Yes, especially with how much homework is being given on screens at this point, and you were trying to limit the screen time that the children have, right? How do we balance that?

Speaker 1

Yeah, I think it's a work in progress because I don't, you know, like I said earlier, screens weren't part of our day-to-day functioning in school, but now it is. It's replaced textbooks, it's replaced homework all of your assignments. So I think it's important to highlight there are different types of screens, right, or screen time uses. Right, there's, you know, educational things, there's platforms for reading and there's your homework, but then there's also, you know, youtube and social media and things that maybe are like more of a mindless scrolling and can be maybe not negatively impacting your education and your sleep, and all of it adds up when you're talking about how much you're straining your eyes, right? So I think it's important to have kids take breaks on the screen if they're doing their homework. You know, maybe setting timers to say, okay, take a 10-minute break, let's look something else, and just be mindful of those things.

Speaker 3

And how do you have the conversation with your student when you're saying you've already had hours of screen time and their argument is well, most of that was school, so I still need to watch my favorite YouTube creator or whatever their favorite binge watch is right now, right.

Speaker 1

So I think every family is going to have a different take on what works for them and what is their ideal, but they may be setting limits on, you know, those sorts of things like my fun entertainment screen time. Does that look like an hour a day and you know when does that? Is that appropriate? We do know that if it's an hour before bedtime it can impact your sleep. It can make it really hard to go to sleep, fall asleep, get some good, well-rested sleep. So maybe saying it's got to be at least an hour before bedtime, cut it off. I think it's helpful if you have times as a family where you decide when screens are appropriate, maybe dinnertime nobody has screens and parents can set the role model it's easy for us to slip into oh, my phone went off, let me look at it. But I think if you have times where there's no screens for everybody, that role model and modeling behavior is really helpful.

Social Media Guidelines for Children

Speaker 2

And you mentioned social media a few moments ago, which is another one of those very controversial topics when it comes to children and it changes so quickly, because my kids, I think they may have had Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest, maybe when they were young and they've got everything for your kids at this point Megan. So what kind of guidelines and recommendations do you have for children with social media?

Speaker 1

Yeah, it's hard. I really think it's hard. It's not a clear cut and I think every family is going to have to adapt and think about what works for them. I will say, you know, most of these platforms don't start till age 13, when you do try to make a profile, and I think even at that age it's a vulnerable population. It's a vulnerable age and if you think that it is an okay fit for your family to start, you know, looking at it in those early teen years, there are ways to make it safer. Right, you can have shared profiles, shared logins. You can set screen limit times.

Speaker 1

I think it's helpful to like scroll with your kids and see what they're looking at. You know sometimes, we know that long term it can cause mood changes, anxiety. They might feel like cyberbullying. Feel like you know this whole social media versus reality, like bullying. Feel like you know this whole social media versus reality. Like why is my life not so much like all these things that I'm seeing online? So I do think that that's something to think about, working on how it works for your family and also asking your kid how does it make you feel? I saw you were looking at those videos. Now you seem a little bit, you know, maybe quieter. What are you feeling Like? What kinds of things are those provoking in you?

Speaker 2

This feels silly to have to re-say this, but you brought up the fact that they're supposed to start at 13 years old or so. You recommend sticking with that guideline. I do?

Speaker 1

I do. I think there's. You know there is some something to say about a developing brain, right, and so it's hard when they're you know they don't understand digital permanence. They don't understand, like, exactly what they're seeing. There could be some inappropriate content. It's just there's a lot of things that you know kids could fall into pitfalls with and I think below 13, it's really, really a vulnerable age that I would be very worried about. Again, it's everybody is going to have a different take on it with what they think is okay for their family. But I think making sure you have those conversations and explain to kids, even teenagers, why you're concerned, you know the impact of digital impermanence whatever you post can potentially be there forever, and those sorts of things you should have that conversation.

Communication is Key for Success

Speaker 3

It's very clear Every family is different. Every family will create their own schedule now going back and changes going back into this new school year. Yeah, but it sounds to me like that key message is talk to your kids, absolutely.

Speaker 1

If you could take anything from my recommendations, it would be communication. Like how do I open that communication? How do I make that relationship with my child for the rest of the school year? Like I said, it's not just week one that's going to feel hard. The whole year is going to have challenges and new things that come up and you know you might you know it might bring up bullying or things that they might encounter If somebody did this or you know, or if anybody left you out or you might feel you know always you can come to me and you can talk to me and you know you won't be in trouble. I think that's important.

Speaker 3

Chelsea, thank you so much for your time today and I'm sure we will be talking again next August, going into the next school year.

Speaker 1

Appreciate your time. It was great to see you guys and I'm excited for everyone who is going back to school.

Speaker 2

Check out the show notes for this episode for more information on ChristianaCare Primary Care.

Speaker 3

You can always keep up with, for the Love of Health, on social media. Search us on TikTok, instagram, facebook, whatever your favorite platform is, and check out more back to school information.

Speaker 2

We'll be back in two weeks with another great conversation.

Speaker 3

Until then, thanks for joining us.

Speaker 2

For the Love of.

Speaker 3

Health.

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Megan McGuriman

Co-host