After more than a year of school closures, virtual classes and hybrid learning, students and parents are preparing for a return to the classroom this fall. Your to-do list does not stop with pencils, backpacks and new clothes. You also need to prepare a back to school health checklist. Children need to be healthy and alert in order to succeed in school. That means you need to prepare for everything from physicals to lessons on germ warfare and COVID-19 regulations.

Here are five tips to get you started:

  1. Learn about school safety precautions and required immunizations. Different schools have different requirements. Many school websites have a page of health-related forms and requirements. These apply to COVID and non-COVID health issues.
  2. Your child’s doctor should perform a school physical. This physical can help identify health problems, including hearing and vision issues. Many schools systems require a sports physical to determine if it is safe for your child to participate in a certain sport. This is what you can expect:

    Medical History: This part of the exam can include questions on topics such as:
    • Family history of serious illnesses
    • Past and present illnesses
    • Allergies
    • Previous surgeries and/or hospitalizations
    • Past injuries
    • Past and present medication
    Physical Examination: This part of the exam can include:
    • Measuring your height and weight
    • Checking your pulse and blood pressure
    • An eye test
    • Evaluating the condition of your heart, lungs, and throat
    • Checking your joints, strength, and flexibility.
    If you do not have a primary care physician, you may walk-in any Patient First to receive a physical.
     
  3. Talk with your children about germs and how they spread. Teach the kids when and how to wash their hands properly. Also, make sure your children know what to do when they need to cough or sneeze. They should carry tissues or, if necessary, sneeze into the inside of their elbow instead of their hands.
  4. Children fall out of their school day sleep routine during vacation. Don’t wait until the night before school begins to get back into that routine. Ease your children back into their sleep schedule by gradually imposing an earlier bedtime a few weeks before school begins.
  5. Have a plan for sick days. Pediatricians stress that you should not send your child to school with a fever. A fever means the immune system is trying to fight off something. Your child may be contagious to other children and adults. Have a plan in place for last minute sick child care. You will probably need it before the school year ends.

Related Articles

Articles by tag

2020 2021-top-workplace 4th-of-July ACLS AED air-purification allentown Allergies Announcement Antibiotics anxiety Aspen Hill coming soon Asthma award awards back-to-school baltimore baltimore-child baltimore's-child baltimore-sun beach bedside-manner bel-air Best of Best urgent care Best urgent care VA beach best-for-families Bestof best-of best-of-2019 Best-of-2020 best-of-award best-of-awards bestofcountytimes Best-of-Jewish-times-winner Best-Urgent-Care Best-urgent-Care-Bowie-Blade-News best-workplace bethlehem Biking Black-Friday blog Blood-Donation BLS Blueberries Camping capital-gazette careers Cholesterol Circadian-Rhythm Cold cold-prevention colon-cancer concussion coronavirus covid-19 COVID-19-Test CPR cramp-prevention Dehydration dental-health Depression Dermatitis Diabetes drowning Drug Screening Dry-Skin eastern-pa easton Eating-Disorder employees employment Ergonomics E-Scooter exercise eye-health face-mask Fall fall-sports Farmer's-Market First-Aid Fitness Flu Flu-season food-storage food-swaps football For Men For Parents For Women for-moms for-parents fredericksburg Gastrointestinal General Generation-X-Health Gift-Ideas Goals Halloween hand-foot-and-mouth Hand-Washing Hanukkah harrisburg headache Head-Lice Health Healthcare health-history health-symptoms Healthy Living healthy-eating healthy-living healthy-swaps Heart Heart-Disease Heart-Health Heat heat-exhaustion heat-safety hiking Holiday holidays horizonBCBS horizon-blue-shield Hydration Illness Inclusivity Inclusivity & Accessibility inclusivity-&-accessability injury-prevention Insect-Stings insurance jetlag jobs Kidney Kwanzaa Laughter lehigh-valley life-support-class Lightning maryland Mask meal-prep mechanicsburg medical-records melanoma memory-retention Men's-Health mental-health Migrane millennial Millennials montco montco-pa montgomery-county montgomery-county-pa Mood Improvement Movember MRSA new jersey new-center new-jersey new-year New-Year's northern-va northern-virginia nova Now open in Annandale Nutrition Occupational Health ocean-safety osteoporosis outdoors Paddle-Sports PALS Parenting Parenting-Tips parent-tips patient-first pennsylvania pets philadelphia philly physicals poison-ivy poison-prevention Power-Outage Pregnancy probiotics Productivity Protein recipe Recipes registration resolutions richmond River running safety Safety Tips safety-tips Seasonal-Affective-Disorder shin-splings Sickness-Prevention simply-the-best skin sleep Smoke-Detector Smoking Snow soccer sore-throat south-jersey Sports Sports-Physicals spring-cleaning St.-Patrick's-Day Stitches strep Strep-Throat stress stress-managment Stroke summer summer-sports Sunburn Sunglasses Sun-Safety sunscreen Swimmer's-ear swimming TBI Teal-Pumpkin Teething Thyroid tick tips-for-parents top-physicians top-workplace Travel traveling-tips travel-tips Travel-Vaccines urgent-care Urinary-health vacation Valentine's-Day Valentines-Day Video Vitamin-D volunteering Walking washington-dc washington-post washington-post-2019 Water-Sports Weight-Lifting wellness Winter Workouts Yard-Work Yearly-Physical