You’re making your way through the school supply lists, you’re filling in all the squares in your fall calendar, and you’re winding down the lazy days of summer.

Ready or not, the 2024-2025 school year is almost upon us. How can you make this a healthy one?

ONBOARDING THE START OF SCHOOL IMMUNE MARATHON
First up, if you feel like there’s a period of time when school is back in session that your family is getting sick more often, you’re not wrong. Elementary school kids on average get sick twelve times during the school year.1 The most common illnesses that pop up throughout the year are colds, flu, stomach bugs, pink eye, and strep.2 This tends to level off a bit as kids move into middle school and high school years, as their immune systems have been exposed to common illnesses during their younger school days. If you’re a teacher or helping in your child’s classroom, you will also likely have an exposure cycle of common illnesses. This has been particularly true following the lockdown from the pandemic, in what researchers call an “immunity gap,” when exposure to common germs and viruses was reduced.3

Consistent handwashing, not sharing drinking cups or straws, covering the nose or mouth when sneezing or coughing, keeping your child home or staying home yourself when not feeling well, these are all measures that can help stem the tide. Getting enough sleep, spending time outdoors, and eating a healthy diet also can make a big difference. A few more simple ideas include having your child not share pencils or crayons with other kids and reminding them to wash their hands when they come in from the playground or anytime they’ve been playing and climbing on shared equipment.

If you or your child do come down with a back-to-school sickness, and you’re a Member of Altrua HealthShare, you have access to telehealth through DialCare, 365/24/7, which makes managing a bad case of the school sniffles more convenient.

But it’s not just managing physical illness and symptoms when it comes to a healthier school year.

EMOTIONAL
The beginning of new routines, of a new schedule, of making new friends, dealing with stress over homework (both for your student and for you as the parent overseeing all those math equations!) plays a big role in the level of emotional health you and your family experience at the top of the school year. While you may find as a family that there are some stressors that are relieved by having a schedule in place, there is much about the beginning of the school year and going back to extracurricular activities that can usher in a whole new level of tension. You may find yourself or find that your child has elevated anxiety levels as down time goes down and responsibilities go up.

If you’re an Altrua HealthShare Member on certain memberships, you have an exciting updated feature as part of your membership that can help. For several years, Altrua HealthShare partnered with LifeWorks, a counseling and coaching service. Recently, LifeWorks was acquired by Telus Health.

What does this mean for you? It means that if you’re an Altrua HealthShare Member on certain memberships, you now have an even more robust provider of mental well-being counselors and coaches to choose from, all still with the ability to see someone in person for a set number of sessions per issue or to have unlimited telecounseling, all included in your Altrua HealthShare membership. If you find that you or your child are needing some extra support as you kick off the school year, or if you’d like coaching on career, financial, or legal matters, Telus Health is there for you. (If you’re not sure if your level of Altrua HealthShare membership includes Telus Health or if you’re not yet an Altrua HealthShare Member and you’d like to learn more, contact a Member Services Representative at 1.877.990.9535.)

SPIRITUAL
You were getting in a lot of travel. Then the kids went to camp and you found yourself driving over one weekend to drop them off and over another weekend to pick them up. Your small group took a break over the summer. Your niece got married in a summer destination wedding.

It’s not surprising that regular church attendance drops by 20% over the summer months. It’s known as the ‘summer slump,’ as travel schedules, activities, and slower days become the norm.4 The start of school is a great time to get back into your regular routine of spending time with your faith community. It can give you just the reminder you need to invest in the spiritual life and practice of you and your family.

Keeping your spiritual life healthy isn’t just about regular Sunday service attendance, though. It’s also what you do on a day-by-day basis that likely will make the biggest impact on your family’s spiritual growth and health.

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
Deut. 11:18-21

What does it mean to talk about your faith with your kids when you’re at home or on the road? It means that you’re taking advantage of the everyday moments you have with your kids to talk about the most important things, their relationship to God. Consider praying with your kids as you walk with them to the bus stop. Take a moment to put a Post-it note with a verse on it in their lunch box. You can also listen to resources like the God on the Go podcast on your drive to school or soccer practice with your kids. God on the Go is a podcast designed to give a quick spiritual lesson in five minutes or less, geared to inspire faith conversations with you and your children.

A healthy back-to-school season should include habits for protecting you and your child’s physical well-being. But health is also about emotional wellness and spiritual growth. When you think about kicking off a healthier school year this year, be sure to be intentional about helping your child with their feelings about their new classes and routines, and make spiritual focus and growth part of your day. Here’s to a great new year of learning and growing!

1 https://www.texaschildrens.org/content/wellness/how-avoid-common-back-school-illnesses#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20younger%20school%2Daged%20children%20get%20six%20to%2012%20colds%20or%20illnesses%20each%20school%20year.%C2%A0
2 https://www.texaschildrens.org/content/wellness/how-avoid-common-back-school-illnesses#:~:text=Colds%3A%20Hence,clear%20the%20infection.
3 https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/its-a-nasty-cold-and-flu-season-but-some-educators-are-reluctant-to-take-sick-days/2022/11
4 https://churchanswers.com/blog/just-how-bad-is-the-summer-slump-six-discoveries/#:~:text=A%20typical%20average%20decline%20is%2020%20percent.%20We%20used%20average%20worship%20attendance%20as%20our%20metric.%20The%2020%20percent%20number%20was%20the%20response%20from%20two%20of%20three%20pastors%20in%20this%20survey.%20So%2C%20for%20a%20church%20with%20an%20average%20worship%20attendance%20of%20200%20during%20the%20non%2Dsummer%20months%2C%20attendance%20drops%20to%20160%20in%20the%20summer.