Back to school stress? The library can help. |

These busy days before the new school year begins can be stressful for children and paren'ts. Did you know the library has resources that can help make the transition from summer vacation back to school routines a little easier?

One of the challenges I remember from when my children were young was getting them into bed earlier as the school year approached. After staying up later on long summer evenings it wasn't easy for them to settle down, especially since it was still light outside. I thought of this recently when I read an article about the use of melatonin to help children sleep. Melatonin is a hormone which helps regulate the sleep cycle. Considered a natural health product in Canada, it is available without a prescription. It's widely used for insomnia, jet lag and other sleep problems. Apparen'tly its use in children is increasing as paren'ts struggle to get their children to settle down at bedtime.

If you want your young children to sleep better in preparation for the new school year, have a look at the following resources:

Like many paren'ts, I found it challenging to make nutritious lunches that my children would eat. And my lunch-making days were in a simpler time of peanut butter sandwiches and brown paper bags. Both the food and the containers have become a lot more sophisticated, and there's no shortage of advice about best practices.

We have books with ideas for healthful school lunches:

Paren'ts and older students who want to prepare for the upcoming academic year might be interested in our textbook collections. The Science & Technology Department at the North York Central Library has an extensive collection of math and science textbooks covering grades 7 to 12. These reference books must be used in the library and are selected from the Trillium List of textbooks approved for use in Ontario schools. Reference copies of textbooks are available in many larger library branches.

Here are some examples of elementary level textbooks available on the 5th floor at the North York Central Library: