Children typically start potty training between the ages of 18 to 24 months and are more or less toilet trained by the age of 24-36 months, according to NationwideChildrens.org. Each child is unique, of course, and here are six tips and strategies to make your child’s experience (and your experience!) as smooth and stress-free as possible.

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When children love to read, it makes learning so much easier for them while they’re in school—and, in fact, for the rest of their lives. So, the question is how to encourage them to read and to find pleasure in doing so. This post shares four tips, along with highlights about reading milestones. 

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the answer is “yes.” That’s because young children are “at high risk of serious flu-related complications,” with thousands of children hospitalized each year with the virus, and some even dying from the flu.

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Without a doubt, persistence can pay off – and so the question is how to effectively develop this trait in your child. In response, Parents.com developed a seven-step process to help your child learn how to set goals and then focus on achieving them.

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If your child is complaining about back pain, or shoulder and/or neck pain, it may be that his or her backpack is too heavy. According to KidsHealth.org, your child’s backpack should weigh, at most, the equivalent of 10% to 15% of his or her body weight. 

Is that what’s really happening? The video included in this article by Today.com makes it clear that, no. Children are definitely wearing ones that are too heavy for them, with at least 14,000 children treated annually for injuries associated with backpacks, which breaks down to nearly 80 for each day of the school year.

Here are more specifics, both about the problem and about how to help prevent injury.

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If it seems as though your child gets sick at the start of every school year, know you’re not alone. The average child in the United States gets six to ten colds annually, according to WebMD.com, and colds serve as the biggest cause of missed school days and visits to the doctor for children—and schools can truly be breeding grounds for those germs. In fact, children gathering together is one of the main ways germs get passed around in a community.  

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Few things make going to school more challenging than when a bully is in the classroom. Whether the bully is physically aggressive or relies upon verbal bullying tactics, this inappropriate behavior can cause significant amounts of problems for other students. 

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As summer turns to fall, children return to the classroom—and, for some, this also marks the arrival or return of school anxiety. Reasons for this anxiety range from fears about riding a bus to worrying about a new teacher, memorizing a new locker combination, whom to eat lunch with, play with and more. So, as a parent with an anxious child at the start of the school year, what do you do? 

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Over the summer, it isn’t unusual for your family’s sleeping schedules to change—and, if that’s the case for your children, it’s important to return them to a back-to-school sleep schedule as smoothly as possible. That’s because getting enough quality sleep is one of the best possible ways to improve performance in school. 

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When fall arrives, it’s the season to start putting together healthy school lunches to pack into your child’s lunchbox each morning—and this blog post shares four ideas to consider. 

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