A Mom's Guide to Back-to-School Season

The back-to-school season hits differently after a couple of months of lazy summer mornings.

No alarms. No tests. No presentations. Sports are on a break, the schedule is gloriously relaxed, and somewhere in there you probably squeezed in a family vacation. Then August shows up, and everything changes.

As a mom of three—twin 10-year-olds and a 4-year-old—I know this transition well. And every single year, it comes with a full range of emotions for both parents and kids.

Honestly? I get a little excited. I love watching my kids' minds get back into learning mode, and I won't lie, less screen time feels like a mom win. But I also miss them the moment they shut the door to my minivan. I worry about their safety, about the friends they're choosing, about whether their teachers will be kind, and—more than anything—whether people can see Christ in the way they treat others.

My kids feel it, too. They get excited about the new backpack, the fresh haircut, and the first-day outfit. They can't wait to see their friends. But, underneath all of that excitement is a fear of the unknown:

Will anyone I know be in my class? Will I feel included at recess? Will I make the team?

Those feelings are real. For them and for us.

Here are five things I've learned to do during this season that help me loosen my grip, and trust the One who actually holds it all together.

I have cried on the first day of school every single year. And the reasons have changed over the years.

When my twins started daycare, I cried from sheer fear—the kind of fear that comes from imagining every worst-case scenario without me there. A few years later, I cried because I worried that my kids thought I was pushing them away and that I didn’t want to be around them. And then last year, when my youngest started Parent's Day Out at church, I sat in the parking lot and sobbed (the definition of ugly crying). He was my last baby. I could feel the years slipping through my fingers.

I'm not a crier, but I couldn’t hold my emotions back. The emotions all built up to a big ball of anxiety, stress, and the very human struggle of letting go.

I drove home to a quiet house. And in that quiet, I felt the Holy Spirit settle over me. It gave me the gentle reminder that God goes before my children into every room I cannot enter. He will not leave them or abandon them (Deuteronomy 31:8). Neither my fear nor my absence changes that.

Let yourself feel the emotion. God may want to heal the very thing you've been hiding beneath the surface.

Be their safe place. Let them know you will not judge their emotions—big or small, excited or anxious. Whatever they're feeling is welcome at the table.

The earlier you build this kind of communication, the longer it lasts. Kids who learn to bring their fears to their parents grow into teenagers who still do. That open door is one of the greatest gifts you can give them.

We spend so much energy trying to look like we have it together for our kids. But our children need to know we are human. They need to know that we feel nervous, that we miss them, and that we don't always have the answers.

We're not superheroes. We're just people who love them fiercely and serve a God who actually is sovereign. There's something freeing for a child when they realize their parent trusts God too, a trust born from walking with a faithful God through hard things.

Nightly prayers are as non-negotiable as brushing teeth. Make them a rhythm, not an afterthought.

Build in extra time, because prayer has a way of unlocking conversations that the busyness of the day kept closed. Some of the most important things your child needs to tell you may only come out in the quiet before sleep. Be there for it.

The Bible is clear that God's Word does not return empty (Isaiah 55:11). When we speak Scripture over our children, we aren't performing a ritual. We are agreeing with what God has already declared to be true about them.

To help you get started, we've created a free printable with 10 declarations for your family.

Recite these declarations together at bedtime, then again at school drop-off in the morning. Confidence and courage grow from knowing Who made you, Who goes before you, and Who holds you, no matter what the school day brings. Feel free to print them off and share them at your church, too.