Column: Your Checklist for a Healthy School Year

Kids are back at school and as they settle into new routines, this time can also be a great time for the family to focus on a few health-related benchmarks:

See Your Provider
Make sure a yearly check-up with your family provider is on the calendar to monitor your child’s overall health and development. If your child plans to play a winter sport, you can get any required release forms signed at the same time.

Get Vaccinated
At a well-child visit, your provider will check that your child is up to date on all required childhood immunizations. If they’ve missed any, it’s important to catch up to help avoid illness. This includes getting a yearly flu vaccine.

Set a Schedule
Getting enough sleep is vital to your child’s ability to focus and learn. Have them power down electronics a couple of hours before bedtime. Younger kids should get 10 to 12 hours of sleep a night, while adolescents (ages 13 to 18) should aim for 8 to 10 hours.

Sweat Your Stress
School pressures can take a mental toll. Exercise can reduce tension while boosting enthusiasm, self-esteem, and school performance. It also helps children to fall—and stay—asleep at night. Get your child involved in sports or even a neighborhood game of tag.

Healthy Lunch Ideas
Switch up Sandwiches. Swap white bread for whole-wheat or whole-grain bread, English muffins, tortillas, or pitas. Get creative with fillings. Instead of jelly, pair peanut butter with apple slices, banana slices, or raisins.

Skip salty snacks. A handful of homemade trail mix (made of dried fruits and unsalted nuts and seeds) is a great substitute for chips or pretzels.

Be imaginative. To make lunch more interesting, use cookie cutters to make square sandwiches into fun shapes, write a note on their napkin, or decorate the bag with colorful stickers. Add variety by tossing in tiny bites of different cheese, fruits, or veggies.

Tessa Amos, CNM, FNP, MSN provides care to children and young adults with Barton Pediatrics, including well-child care; physicals; immunizations; urgent and sick visits; ADHD evaluations; and more. To make an appointment, call 530.543.5623 or for more information, visit BartonHealth.org.