4 Ways to Beat the After School Slump

This post is sponsored by Goldfish® but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

When Hudson started kindergarten in the fall, I knew he was in for some long days of learning, growing, and having fun. Which would probably mean I’d get a tired little boy off the bus every afternoon. But boy did I underestimate exactly how ROUGH those first few months of the after-school-slump would be! It took Hudson a while to get adjusted to those long school days. And it took me just as long to figure out just how to approach him after school. It was like taming the beast! But a lot of the problem was me….so today I’m sharing 4 ways we beat that after school slump.

1. Have a snack ready. Hudson always gets off the bus HANGRY….which is hungry + angry. He has snack time and lunch time so early, that by the time he gets home he’s starving. I’ve learned to have a snack prepared and ready to go as soon as he steps off the bus. This has made that after school slump SO MUCH BETTER.

I love to prepare him a snack of some fruit or veggies AND his new favorite Goldfish Epic Crunch crackers. They are the perfect solution for snack time after school! Hudson LOVES the Nacho flavor so much and is pretty excited to see them set out for snack time. Not gonna lie, I love these crackers too!

2. Don’t pester with questions. I’m always so excited to see Hudson when he gets off the bus and I have a million questions for him about his day, what he learned, who he played with, and what special activates he got to participate in. But I learned pretty quickly that he is just so tired from school that he doesn’t have the extra energy to answer all of my questions. This totally may be a boy thing. My daughter is a non-stop chatterbox after pre-school, but Hudson just needs some time. He is always happy to share about his day once dinner rolls around, so I’ve learned to save my questions for the evening.

3. Have some down time. On days when we have to quickly pack up to go to an activity or event, Hudson often has a mini melt-down. He needs about 30-60 minutes after school to just wind down from the day, play quietly by himself, or just relax.

4. Set aside time for homework. As a kindergartner luckily Hudson has had very minimal homework. But we are laying the framework for years to come by setting aside some time either before dinner or right after to tackle some work. For Hudson it’s usually practicing sight words, coloring, and reading.

We love the Goldfish Epic Crunch Nacho flavored crackers….can’t you tell? They are a fun new twist to our beloved original Goldfish crackers. I might have blown his mind when I introduced him to the nacho flavor!

One of Hudson’s favorite activities during his “homework time” is to lay out his sight word cards that have numbers on them and then count out the correct amount of Goldfish crackers for each card. He is so proud of himself and it really has helped him learn to recognize each number in it’s written form.

How do you beat the after-school slump? We love Goldfish Epic Crunch Nacho flavor crackers and know that you will too! They make snack time fun and help fuel us for the busy afternoon and evening ahead! You can find Goldfish Epic Crunch crackers at your local retailer here.