Helping Your Child Do Better in School
School is a very important part of a child's life and fills a lot of his waking hours. The following tips will help children to be successful and experience less school-related stress.
- Be patient with your children. Experts say that new learning sometimes requires more than 15 tries before it is mastered. Treat mistakes as opportunities to learn. When you find yourself "losing your cool," stop and do something else for awhile.
- Don't compare your children. Let them know that you love them for who they are.
- Provide a quiet, well-lit place for studying.
- Schedule home study on a regular basis. If your children are not given homework, use this time for review, reading for pleasure, or some type of family or learning activity.
- Set a bedtime and stick to it.
- Keep your children's school attendance excellent. Some children can never quite adjust after frequent or extended absences from school.
- Read with and to your child.
- Help your children read.
- Have your child read to you.
- Listen to your children tell you what they have read.
- Provide a variety of reading materials in your home.
- Give your children books as birthday and holiday gifts.
- Tempt your children with paperbacks and magazines.
- Get your children to read the newspaper! Clip articles that they would like.
- Encourage them to read the ads. Ads provide a service for the consumer.
- Give your children many opportunities to use pencils, crayons, and markers. Help them cut with safety scissors.
- Make family mealtimes meaningful. This is a good time for talking together, sharing events of the day, and discussing problems each person may be having.
- Make the TV your servant, not your master. Help your children choose the right programs to watch. Then watch them together, and talk about what happens.
- Take your children to places like the library, art museums, shopping for groceries, farms, factories, etc.
- Participate in school activities, attend parent/teacher conferences and school organizations, and visit your child's classroom.
- Work with your child on his/her schoolwork. Build on your child's strengths and try to improve your child's weaknesses. If you show an interest in your child's work, he/she will tend to work harder.
- Be aware of what is happening at school. Read parent newsletters and important papers that are sent home. The more informed you are, the easier it will be to prepare your child for the school day.
- Communicate with your child's teacher. Talk to the teacher and stay informed of your child's progress. Search out answers to questions and concerns.
- Keep your child healthy. Seeing, hearing, and feeling well are essential to learning.
- Talk to your child about his/her school day. Show a genuine interest in what your child does while at school.
- Listen to your children. Encourage them to talk about their everyday activities. Listen for their feelings and needs.
- Praise your children. Praise them when they succeed and help them when they are having problems. Encourage them to keep on trying when the task is hard.
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