Helping your child through school

Helping Your child through school.

Here are some reminders of ways we can make the school experience easier for our children and ultimately for ourselves as parents.

v Talk with your child. Allow your child to talk about the day’s activities and his or her plans and dreams for the future.

v Listen with full attention. Set aside special time to do nothing else but listen with delight. Encourage the child to express feelings of hurt, anger, boredon, embarrassment or fear.

v Play with your child. Active games that encourage positive physical contact and loud noises are best, e.g. pillow fighting and play-wrestling.

v Role play. Allow the child to assume the role of parent or teacher. They use this as a good way to “act out” the frustrations of feeling like a victim.

v Set goals with them. Help them to set short and long term goals and to monitor their progress.

v Provide a quiet, comfortable place for study and the material that they may need.

v Help them to set up a study schedule. Help them to ask questions about the work and to make it relevant and meaningful.

v Read to your child often.

v Monitor your child’s homework. Help them to understand the work. Don’t do the homework for them.

v Encourage and support your child in at least one extracurricular activity.

v See that your child gets enough rest and exercise.

v Do not overburden the child with extra ,after-school lessons. Make sure the solution fits the problem.

v Provide the child with as many different learning experiences as you can –outings, informative television viewing, appropriate movies, conversations with resource people.

v Establish a good relationship with your child’s teacher.

v Validate your child constantly. Reward for improvement , effort and perseverance not just for achieving a certain grade.

v Do not demonstrate disappointment, verbally or non-verbally, when the child does not seem to live up to your expectations. The child is always doing his or her best.

v Always demonstrate love and support, Love them “in spite of “ and “just because”.

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