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Most parents want their young children to be academically successful, or at the very least academically competent so that they’re able to achieve their life goals. A lot of children are naturally bright and have an inquisitive mind that keeps them curious in the classroom that enables them to continue learning. However, others might be a bit distracted in the classroom and might not share the same emphasis on learning as their peers.
Regardless of your child’s attitudes to learning and school, there are many things that a parent can do to help them and make them better, which will aid them in getting good grades further on in their academic life and allow them to pursue higher forms of education. Here are a few things parents can do to help their child succeed at school:
Be Engaged In Their School Life
One of the worst things a parent can do that may negatively affect their child’s educational development is being distant from it. Too many parents don’t really ask about and engage themselves with their child’s school life. The reason this is bad is because this perceived lack of care towards their education might rub off on the child and make them not interested as well.
A parent that is excited about their child’s progress in class and is interested in what they’re working on and learning will help make the child feel more inspired and determined to do well in school. Be sure to celebrate their achievements too and to not dismiss them. Did your child get full marks in their weekly spelling test? Great, stick it on a fridge and make a fuss about it. Did they just move up a reading level? Awesome, get them to read to you to show off their abilities. Praising a child when they do well should help inspire them to work even harder and motivate them to do well.
On the other hand, if your child is struggling and can’t seem to keep up with the class average, you need to be present here too. It’s important to be supportive and to not ridicule the child, as this could make them feel bad and encourage even greater disinterest. Try and help them, and if things start to improve, give them that encouragement too and reward effort.
The best way a parent can stay engaged with their child’s school life though is through attending parent-teacher conferences. This is a great way to stay informed with how your child is doing and is also a good way to get to know your child’s teachers’ expectations. These can also be great ways to learn about new strategies to aid your child’s development. A child’s early education is a team effort, so make sure you’re there for them and are pulling your weight.
Check Up On Their Homework
Homework is an interesting aspect of school for young children, as it subconsciously teaches them how to conduct self-learning and also develops research skills, which can serve them well later on in life and in further education, such as university degrees or an MBA. Click here to find out more. The issue is that a lot of children try to ignore doing homework, and would rather play and relax, so it’s up to the parents to ensure that homework is being done, to help them with their independent learning development.
Furthermore, it’s a good idea to understand how long homework should roughly take your child to complete. For example, the average rule of thumb is that homework should take about ten minutes per grade they’re in. This means that if your child is in third grade, homework should take about 30 minutes each night. If they’re completing it a lot quicker than this, don’t just assume that your child is gifted, as it could be an indicator that they’re cutting corners. On the other hand, if the homework is constantly taking longer than this to complete do bring it up with the teacher.
A good way to help your child develop good homework habits is to create a robust after school routine. Figure out what works best for your household, but a good timetable would be an hour of relaxation when they return home, the following hour spent on homework, and then the rest for their hobbies.
What can be hard for young children to figure out early on is how to prioritize. Sometimes, teachers will set homework that’s due in a few days’ time. Most children will usually take this as an excuse to procrastinate and leave it to the last minute, but then might be caught out when more homework is added on top of that during the rest of the week, which can result in the child being overwhelmed with work. Try to help your child in planning what they should be doing. Making them write their deadlines on a family calendar is a great way to do this.
Create A Home Routine That Encourages Learning
A child will struggle to learn as well as they can if they’re living in a chaotic household, so it’s important to be a responsible parent and try your best at helping them have a stable routine. The after-school routine mentioned in the previous point is a good way to do this, but there are also other things you need to do as well.
The first is to enforce a sensible bedtime so that your child isn’t sleepy during the following day and won’t learn as well. Most children need around 10-12 hours of sleep a night, and it’s a good idea to try and limit their screen time an hour before bed so that they’re in a more relaxed mood.
In the morning, it’s also a good idea to make sure that your child is well-fed with a nutritious breakfast. This is because a well-fed child will have more energy and will not have hunger distracting them from learning. If your work routine makes it hard to feed your children at home, most schools also have a breakfast club that can feed your children before school to help prepare them for a day of learning.
