School can be a challenging experience for kids. Not only are they separated from their primary caregivers, but they are very much on their own, having to support themselves, right from one day.
For parents, sending a child to school can also be a difficult time. For the first time, they’re away from home for long periods of time, having to fend for themselves without you there to support them. You can feel helpless, especially if they struggle. It’s not like nursery.
Fortunately, there is a lot that parents can do to show their children that they are there for them. Take a look at the following ways to help your child succeed at school.
Encourage Active Learning
Children are smart. They know that studying requires a lot of effort. Many, therefore, will study passively, reading books and hoping that something will eventually go in. Actively learning and solving problems is a lot more effort for their brains and something that they will avoid doing if they can.
Active learning, however, is the most effective form of education, precisely because it doesn’t give the child any choice but to learn and establish new neural pathways. It’s an energy-intensive activity, but one that can bring substantial rewards if done correctly.
As a parent, there’s a lot that you can do to encourage active learning. You could, for instance, ask them questions, introduce them to new problems or gamify the learning experience, making spelling a part of a fun experience. The key is to avoid passive learning: you’re there ensuring that they’re continually making an effortful approach to greater knowledge, not just waiting until they can snuggle up and watch TV.
Get Involved In Extracurricular Activities
Extracurricular activities might sound like an add-on to school life, but for many children, they’re the main event. Think about your best times at school: was it sat doing algebra in math class? Or was it playing a musical instrument or taking part in a drama performance? No doubt it was the extracurricular element of school which really captivated your passion.
Parental involvement in extracurricular activities is something that often comes up in child custody cases. Courts want to know whether the parent supports the child in a range of activities to get a sense of the extent of their involvements in their lives. Extracurricular activities, therefore, are considered important enough to be included in legal proceedings. The reason for this is the profound effect that they can have on a child’s experience of their life in school. A parent who supports these activities is doing their bit to ensure that their child has a good upbringing.
Introduce Your Child To The Library
Libraries should be a place of discovery: somewhere that kids can go to explore the world around. Unfortunately, all too many children see libraries as boring, quiet places where they can’t have fun. Your task, as a parent, is to make libraries enjoyable. Your child might not be able to run around screaming their heads off, but they could go and find a book on a subject which interests them.
Introduce Your Child To Reading
The age at which children learn to read varies. Parents, therefore, shouldn’t worry too much if their child doesn’t appear to be keeping up with his or her peers. Each child’s mind is ready for reading at a different age, and it’s hard to predict when they’ll hunker down and commit to learning. With that said, parents can ensure that when the time is right, their child has plenty of exciting material to hone their reading skills. You never quite know what kind of literature will tickle their fancy, so it’s worth introducing them to a range of books from various authors, all with a slightly different focus.
Learn About What Your School Offers
Schools often offer a wide selection of activities before and after school, but they’re not particularly good at communicating that to students or parents. Your job, therefore, is to find out whether there are any clubs at the school that your child would like and then suggest that they enroll. It could be anything, from piano practice to badminton club. These activities have the potential to get students more involved in the life of the school and feel like a thriving member of the community.
Track Your Child’s Report Card
The way the curriculum is currently set up, teachers should warn you if your child starts to “fall behind” academically. Standardized testing has made it easy to discover problem areas, letting you provide support if you feel it’s necessary.
The way kids learn isn’t entirely linear. It’s lumpy. The fact that your child might be falling behind in one area isn’t an indication of their overall level of success or life chances: it’s just a feature of the way that the human mind develops. However, if you notice that your child isn’t making any progress at all, then you may need to ask your school why that’s the case.
Attend Parent-Teacher Conferences
Parent-teacher conferences are opportunities for you to find out exactly what’s been going on while your child has been at school. These conferences are an excellent opportunity to ask questions and raise your concerns. You can also find out how your child is going and what the teacher has noticed about them. Ask them to be frank to give you a clear picture.
Keep Screen Time To A Minimum
Avoiding screens isn’t possible in the modern era. Screens are a fact of modern life and here to stay. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t manage screen time, as a parent. While screens can be used for anything, including learning, more often than not children spend hours in front of them watching videos and playing games. These activities have their place, but they can take the place of homework and constructive after-school activities; things that will broaden and enrich your child’s life. Parents, therefore, should monitor total screen time and try to keep it below a certain amount.