There’s an old saying that your school days are the best days of your life. With pretty much all schools going back to in-person teaching, starting or returning to school for the new educational year is likely to bring a mixed bag of emotions. While many youngsters will be raring to go, excited for what the new term will bring, there may also be anxieties, hidden or obvious. Whether your youngster is gung-ho or feeling just that little bit nervous about the whole thing, we’ve got a range of strategies to help.

We’ve also checked out some of the best apps to help students as they head back to the classroom and sought out a range of after-school activities, to help you make the best of the free time your kids still have.

Routine, Routine, Routine

Psychologists unanimously agree that routine is the number one factor in getting kids, both young and older, ready for a smooth return to (or first time in) the classroom. And this is not just about establishing a term-time bedtime and sticking to it. You also need morning and after-school routines – this is crucial both to give kids a feeling of security and consistency but also for parents’ sanity.

You may wish to incorporate small jobs that youngsters can do themselves such as making sure, when they arrive home, that their school bags are packed for the next day and their uniforms are properly put away or dropped into the laundry basket.

Whichever routine you decide to establish, be prepared to stick to your guns. After the long summer holidays, youngsters may have gotten into the habit on going to bed late and getting up equally late as well as spending a lot of time playing either online or with favourite toys or friends. You can incorporate some of this behaviour into the new routine with promises of additional play/ sleep time at weekends but it’s important that, during the week, school-age kids are getting enough sleep.

Make It Fun

Making the start of a new term fun can go a long way to easing any anxieties kids big and small may be feeling. Try shopping for stylish stationery and great accessories. For little ones, particularly, this will help them to get excited about going back to the classroom and, for this age group, participation and a feeling of choice are key. But, make sure their more outlandish choices are fit for the job they need to do. You could also have a fun session with them personalising their bags and belongings to make sure they always come home at the end of the day. For older kids, setting a budget and giving them the independence to shop for themselves might be just what’s needed.

Lush Lunches

Another great way to get youngsters excited about going back to school at the same time as helping build your own routine is to get them involved in choosing and preparing their own lunches and snacks to take with them. Of course, you want them to be eating a nutritionally balanced selection of foods but there’s certainly no harm in catering to their particular whims and making the contents of their lunchbox look appealing will go a long way to ensuring they actually eat the things you pack. Check out puckarabia.com for cheesy ideas, modernhoney.com for some great looking, healthy options, or aheadofthyme.com for gourmet goodies.

Homework Helper

Now’s the time to get in the homework habit. For age groups that will have regular out-of-school work to do, set a time period, either directly when they arrive home or – if that’s precious playtime – perhaps after supper, for them to sit down and hit the books (or, these days, screens) to ensure their homework is done on time. This may mean making time for mum or dad to be available to help, particularly for little ones, and this can be a great opportunity to talk about their day. For days when there is no homework, this period can be used for reading or another enjoyable but mildly educational activity – if they’re used to taking this time out, it won’t seem like a chore.

If, as a parent, you feel you’re not up to the task of helping with homework – this may be particularly evident in the case of older children – now’s the time to speak to your children’s teachers and perhaps seek out a tutor if you feel there’s an area where extra help is needed.

It’s Good To Talk

This may seem obvious but, when parents are often rushing to fit in after-school activities, homework and making sure the kids are prepped for the next day’s lessons, conversation can easily take a back seat. But, though communication is hugely important all year round, at the start of a new school year or term it takes on added significance. It’s a good habit, for all ages, to take a few minutes, perhaps before bed, to just check-in, talk about your kid’s day and gently ask if there’s anything bothering them. If all’s hunky dory, then congratulations, for now. But, if issues do develop, having this practice established will, hopefully, make it easier to spot problems early and take appropriate action.

AFTER SCHOOL

Students have gone back to school early this term but how do you keep them entertained outside the classroom, while it’s still scorching outside?

The summer holidays are well and truly over. More than 350,000 students in public and private schools and kindergartens returned to the classroom early because of the FIFA World Cup 2022. As Qatar gets ready to hold the mega sporting event in November, we take a look at some after school activities that are both mentally and physically rewarding for youngsters and won’t burn a hole in your pocket.

Al Thuraya Planetarium

Al Thuraya Planetarium in Katara Cultural Village is a 2,240sq/m facility catering to all age groups and is named after the Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45. Within the planetarium there’s also a museum displaying astronomical figures and models telling the historic story of the split of the moon as well as a number of displays of the planets of the solar system.

Aside from the main exhibit area, visitors can watch shows for free at the planetarium’s dome. Featuring a 22m screen and state-ofthe-art projectors, the full-dome digital system is a truly unique experience. The shows are available in both English and Arabic.

3-2-1 Sports Museum

His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al Thani showed Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis around the 3-2-1 Sports Museum on his most recent trip to the country. It’s no surprise why the two leaders chose this special venue for the visit.

Qatar is a world-renowned sporting nation and the first country in the Middle East to host the FIFA World Cup. Visitors can enjoy an exhibition on the seventh floor detailing the origins of sport over the centuries from different parts of the world including Asia, Europe and Greece – home to the ancient Greek Olympic Games. There are also a number of artifacts on display such as sports equipment, clothing and early archives. Part of the Olympics Exhibit has ‘The Flame’ installation which showcases a collection of Olympic torches from 1928.

There’s also an ‘Activation Zone’, a gift shop and a café. A day of historical sporting fun for the family.

Qatar National Library

The first of its kind, Qatar National Library opened its door to the public in 2017 and is home to a vast Children’s Library. Allowing youngsters to fall in love with reading, burying their curiosity into a good novel, it houses an impressive collection of more than 100,000 children’s books. But it’s not only about books, there are also creative workshops, discussions, an interactive story time, science, arts and literature programmes, including programmes and activities for children with special needs carried out by experts. During the height of the pandemic you had to pre-book a visit, now you can walk-in without an appointment! Children can borrow up to five books, and adults up to four. The only requirement is having a QNL membership.

Bricklyn Lego

If your family love Lego, then Bricklyn is definitely worth a visit. With two locations, at Al Markiya and Tawar Mall, children from 18 months to 16 years can come together to learn, discover and explore, brick by brick. Kids can join a coding and robotics programme and be immersed for hours as they watch their creations come to life! They have a massive Lego pit and various other classes too. Bricklyn junior engineers can develop their math skills, recognising patterns in motion, gravity, balanced and unbalanced forces and the relationship between mass and motion and Newton’s second law of motion. Kids can also create their own Lego City, Jungle, Animal Police Station and Hospital using Lego bricks. It’s not free but you get a discount if you bring more than one child with you. They’re open daily from 10am to 10pm, except Fridays when opening hours are 2pm to 10pm.

Qatar Bowling Center

The great thing about bowling is it’s suitable for all ages and it’s indoors, which makes it an ideal after school activity! Nestled in a 2,000sq/m area and centrally located in Al Bidda, near Mannai Roundabout, Qatar Bowling Center, with its 32 lanes, is a stateof-the-art bowling facility. It’s also great for beginners and there are discounted prices after school too at just QR8 per game per person during what they call their ‘Happy Hour’. They hold special tournaments during the year and even have other indoor games like billiards, snooker, table tennis and mini football for groups. As well as being a large recreational hub, the centre is dedicated to promoting bowling as a sport and is the official training ground of Qatar National Bowling Team.

Al Gharrafa Park

Al Gharrafa Park is a hot family favourite after school and on weekends. Unlike any other park it’s the first air-conditioned park in the country. It opened to the public last year and has about 3,000 daily visitors of all age groups. It has a special airconditioned tunnel for jogging and walking and also has its own cycling path, making it an ideal fitness activity for kids, while topping up their vitamin D!

There are two kids’ play areas located in different parts of the park. These are divided according to age groups split into ages of two to five years and six to 12 years. You can find different equipment such as zip-lines, slides, monkey bars, swings, sea-saws and more! But it doesn’t end there, the park is inclusive and also caters for children with special needs.

After an afternoon of playful activity, kids can quench their thirst at the multiple drinking water fountains dotted around the space. And if that wasn’t enough to feed their appetite, you’ll find food kiosks in the central area too.