Helping Children Succeed in School: Top Ten Mistakes Parents Make
By Karin Suesser
Like most parents, I try to do everything to get my children ready for school each
year: Register them, pay fees, buy school supplies and new clothes, check out their
new classroom, and talk with them about how much fun the upcoming school year will
be. It seems like we should be all set - except for my usual worries about how good
of a "homework coach" I will be during the year, trying to help my children be successful
in school and enjoy life-long learning.
As parents, we often approach our children's school performance and school success
with anxiety and tension. We want our children to succeed so they feel happy about
their accomplishments and have better opportunities in the future. But we also have
the nagging feeling that if our child doesn't do well in school, it will reflect
poorly on us as parents. We feel pressured to make sure they DO succeed. Often,
with the best of intentions, we end up using exactly the wrong strategies:
Nagging and Lecturing
Parents usually don't start nagging children about homework and study habits until
there is a problem (e.g., being sloppy with homework, or not wanting to do homework
at all). Nagging only makes the problem worse because your child will either get
angry at you or tune you out. Instead, try to problem-solve together with your child.
Ask them to come up with several ideas on their own for how to improve this situation.
Brainstorm about how to make homework more fun. Try out at least one of their ideas
and discuss how it worked.
Taking Over
You don't trust your child to get things done right, so you tell them what to do,
when and how. This may work in the short run but doesn't teach children to become
independent learners who take responsibility for their work. Instead of taking over,
help your child figure out what they need to do by asking questions: "What will
you do? When will you do it? How will I know? How do you want me to hold you accountable
for this?"
Focusing on the Future Benefits of School
As parents, we know how important a good education will be later in life. Just don't
expect your children to be motivated by this idea; they are more focused on the
here and now and give little thought to the future. To motivate them, focus on the
immediate benefits of learning (having fun, developing new skills, and ability to
play team sports in school if grades are good.)
Leaving Homework for the End of the Day
If homework is scheduled too late in the evening, with only bedtime to follow and
no time to play, children won’t be motivated to be efficient, and also won’t want
to go to bed since they haven’t had any fun yet. Increase your children’s motivation
to complete homework by giving them something to look forward to afterwards. Favorite
TV shows, videogames, talking on the phone, or having a special snack are all great
rewards after homework is completed, and may provide the extra incentive
your child needs to get through a boring and tedious task.
Insisting on Long Study Sessions
"You will sit here until all your homework is done" - this can feel overwhelming
to children and create resistance, resulting in conflict. Instead, schedule 10-15
minutes of study time, followed by a 5-min. break, then another 15 minutes of study.
Repeat as often as necessary to complete homework. Children actually get more done
that way.
Grounding Children for Missed Assignments and Poor Grades
This is not effective for helping them do better in the future. Instead, use problem
solving ("What would help you do better next time?"), offer support, and give them
incentives for good performance (extra privileges, special rewards).
Not Communicating With Teachers
This means two-way communication: Let the teacher know early on how they can best
support your child's learning (how does your child learn best?) -then ask the teacher
periodically, "What's the best thing I can do to help my child with this subject
at home?" Don’t wait until parent-teacher conferences to find out how your child
is doing, or what kinds of problems need to be corrected.
Overfocusing on Grades and Test Scores
When children get the message that grades are all that counts, they quickly lose
interest in the process of discovery and learning, and instead focus only on the
outcome. If they can't achieve the expected grade or score, they end up feeling
bad which usually does not increase their motivation to do better. Children also
need to hear from us that success comes in many forms. Some students will excel
in sports, drama, music, or art; some develop excellent leadership skills, good
citizenship, become peer mediators, or relate well to animals. Whatever your child's
strengths are, be sure you focus on those talents more than you focus on their grades.
Sticking Only to the Curriculum
As long as children learn what's expected of them in school, that's good enough,
right? Chances are that this year's school curriculum doesn't exactly match his
or her own interests and curiosity (maybe they are into whales and sharks, space
travel, jungle life, airplanes, etc). Encourage children's natural love for learning
by asking, "If you could learn about anything you wanted to, what would you like
to learn?" - then provide them with books, videos, trips to museums, and (most importantly)
adult conversations about those topics.
Not Modeling Life-Long Learning
Do your children see you interested and enthusiastic about learning, studying, and
achieving? Do you read books at home? Go to museums? Look things up? Talk about
new ideas? Remember that our children are always watching what we are doing.
Dr. Karin Suesser, PhD, is a licensed psychologist in private practice in
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (http://www.dollandassociates.com).
She provides therapy and assessment for children (ages 1-18) and their families,
as well as for adults and couples. She specializes in helping individuals find effective
solutions to emotional, behavioral, or life transition concerns. Her areas of expertise
include anxiety issues, ADHD, aggressive and disruptive behaviors, depression, trauma
and abuse issues, academic/career concerns, parenting issues, relationship and sexual
issues. She also provides professional coaching to individuals to help them achieve
their goals, enhance their performance, and live a more deeply meaningful life.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karin_Suesser
|
