New backpacks, fresh supply lists, first-day photos. Heading into the 2026 school year, mental health experts are asking families to add one more thing to the prep: your child’s nervous system. Counselors and pediatricians made the same case all summer: that mental health belongs on the back-to-school checklist next to the sneakers and the pencils.
That advice fits how brains work. A new school year asks a child to hold a lot at once. A new teacher and a new schedule, plus a body that spent the summer on a different rhythm. Excitement and anxiety often arrive together, and both live in the nervous system before they reach words.
You can meet the season with a few simple practices. We kept them as easy to remember as the ABCs, and they work for a kindergartener, a high schooler, and the grown-ups packing the lunches.
A is for Anchor
Children settle when their days feel predictable. A steady rhythm gives a young nervous system something to lean on, so start before the first bell rings. Move bedtime earlier by fifteen minutes every few nights. Bring back the school-morning breakfast a week ahead. Walk or drive the route once so the building feels familiar.
Sleep matters most here. During deep sleep, a child’s brain sorts what they learned that day and clears out stress chemicals, which is why a rested child meets a hard morning better than a tired one. For a younger child, an anchor can be the same goodbye ritual at each drop-off. For a teen, it might be charging the phone outside the bedroom, so bedtime stays bedtime.
B is for Breathe
A child who feels overwhelmed loses easy access to the thinking part of the brain, because the body’s stress response has switched on. You can reach the body first. Slow breathing signals the nervous system that the danger has passed, and it works for any age.
Practice it together at the kitchen table before anyone needs it on a hard day. Breathe in for a count of four, out for a count of six, and let the longer exhale do the settling. Younger kids can breathe out slowly, like they are cooling a bowl of soup. Movement helps too. A short walk or a shake-out of the arms and legs moves stress through the body and out. Our long time collaborator Bernadette Pleasant teaches that the body holds what the mind cannot yet process, and that movement is how we release it. A family that breathes and moves together hands the child a tool they can use in the classroom alone.
C is for Connect
Connection is how a nervous system calms down. Stay steady, and your child borrows that steadiness. Scientists call it co-regulation. For most families, it looks like a hug that settles a kid faster than a pep talk.
Make room for the small check-in. A car ride or a bedtime tuck-in tends to open kids up more than a head-on “how was your day.” Name feelings out loud so your child learns the words, and let a worry stay a worry without rushing to fix it. Brainstorm with them who their people are: could be you, a relative or a trusted teacher or counselor. Older kids can learn their own warning signs and who to text when things feel hard. Reaching out is a strength you can teach.
Reaching Out for More Support
Some nerves come with any new year and ease within a week or two. Our board member Ross Szabo built the weekly wellness curriculum at Geffen Academy at UCLA, a school for grades 6 through 12, and wrote A Kids Book About Anxiety to help families tell everyday nerves apart from anxiety that needs more support. Two things help you spot the difference: how long the worry lasts, and how much of a child’s life it takes up. Worry that lingers past those first weeks, or that keeps a child home and away from friends, is a signal to bring in the school counselor and your pediatrician. Together you can build a plan. Asking for help is an act of care.
Some children need extra support with behavior. If your child faces significant behavioral challenges, this introduction to Collaborative Problem Solving training with Dr. Stuart Ablon can help you work through the hardest moments together. Asking for help is an act of care.
Every family’s first weeks look different. Some kids bound through the door, and some hold your hand a little longer at drop-off. Both are doing the real work of adjusting, and both do it better with a steady adult close by. Pack the supplies, and pack these tips too.
If you or someone you know needs to talk to someone right now, call, text, or chat 988 for a free, confidential conversation with a trained counselor, available 24/7.
