Helping your children in their studies is very important, particularly during exams. Parents’ contribution to studies raises the interest levels of their children in their studies. However, a participation of parents in child’s studies should be limited to a certain extent. There are only a few children, who have god-gifted capabilities so they do their studies themselves. In most other cases, parents need to be concerned about studies of their children and it is observed that parents feel stress because of their child’s studies. If your children are serious about their studies, ensure you take the necessary steps and encourage them to do well in their studies.
Encouraging your child to take interest in the studies is a tough job. One should be creative and innovative besides following some easy guidelines. The technique is to show them the real picture. Explain to them that to be good in studies is a ‘cool’ thing by providing examples of well-known people or notable family members. If your testimony is more visual, the chances are better of your success. However, it would be great if you can help them in doing their homework or making them feel comfortable in their study. It will be a great contribution from your side.
Remember that being forceful is not the right way of improving your child’s studies. There are many distractions in a child’s life these days. The habit of reading is rarely seen in most of the children! Hence, let’s go through some tips, which can help you enhance studies of your child and he could start taking care of his studies.
- Ask them about their Difficulties and Try to Solve: The easiest way of supporting your children’s learning is to show interest in their study and ask them about those particular topics with which they’re finding difficult to deal with. Even if they are fine with their studies, you just tell them that you are always there to help them if they need and it will be enough to realize that you’re with them. If they let you know that they have a problem with any particular topic, you can surely help them. If you can’t do it, you can suggest some other alternatives like some private coaching or some other textbook, which might explain the difficult solution of the problem with more clarity. If the problem is for long-term and not with any particular topic, then you should hire a private teacher to help them get better results with that particular subject. A private teacher may also help if your kid gets ill and missed some time in school.
- Push them to do More Reading: Reading is the main quality of all successful student. Parents can encourage their children to read from a very young age. Parents should take their children to different libraries if possible and get them their library memberships. Parents can also make books available at home, obtain attractive books and give to their child as a birthday or Christmas gift. All these are easy ways of developing a love for reading in the children. You can also subscribe to a newspaper and push your children to go through some articles to become familiar with the current affairs.
- Create Quiet Atmosphere for Certain Time Period Every day: With young siblings making noise in the house, it will be hard for elder children to focus on their studies. To ease this trouble, you can create a quiet atmosphere for certain time period every day at home, through which the young children are silently occupied and older ones get the silence they require to continue their personal study without any interruptions.
- Make Investment in Extra Education Activities: Summer camps provide students with a chance of learning skills, which they cannot learn in their schools. You’ve certainly invested ample time, efforts, and money to secure the finest education possible for your children, however, if you feel that you can do more, make some investment in extra educational activities like summer camps or evening classes. It’s essential that children have enough time to relax and rest; there are many opportunities available to engage them after school time, supporting their school studies.
For instance, they might learn a new language by going to evening classes or you might keep them busy in the summer by sending them to summer camps. All the courses are specially designed for giving your children some academic boost, providing them with new skills and knowledge as well as help them make more friends together.
- Stay Connected with the Teachers: Being parents, it’s vital that you pay serious attention towards your children’s school, by reading the school newsletters, talking with the teachers, and attending parents’ meetings. You can maintain a continuous dialogue with the teachers to observe what help you can provide to your child. Through the teachers, you can get details like in which areas; your child needs extra assistance from you. You might also join the PTA (Parent Teacher Association) of the child’s school because it will help you monitor what’s happening in the school. You can also get involved in fundraising for additional facilities, activities, and events and ultimately your child will get benefits from it.
- Test their Studies by Taking Fun Tests: Whatever age group you have, constantly testing your knowledge is a helpful way of consolidating your awareness. However, this testing doesn’t need to be done in the form of some hectic exam; it could be more fun! Being parents, you can support your children’s studies with observing what they learn by taking fun tests on a regular basis to ensure they’ve studied it properly. For instance, you might set some weekly quizzes based on lessons they’ve studied that week, offering some prizes (some additional pocket-money may be a good option to ensure they perform well!) in case they get a certain amount of percentage. If you can’t have time for organizing quizzes, you can try to encourage them to study by using the index cards for summarizing topics. They will give you some index cards as well as you request them to explicate the concept and you check it on the cards. You may ask them quickly to observe if they know everything or they’ve forgotten something which was on the cards, and you could still award some prizes if they give the right answers. It is the best way to become more associated with your child’s studies because you’re cheering them up to use the knowledge, which they’ve got and that will assist them in learning it more intensely and make them easily remember the information in the classroom or exam.
- Push them to Take Part in Dinner Table Debates: The dinner table is a superb area for the entire family to meet and discuss what their children have studied at school on that day. Start the discussion by asking them how was their day at school and what they have learned. You might start a debate by asking them about their opinions on the subject, as well as by challenging their opinions. It will show that you are taking interest in their studies and it also expands their talent in academic debates and discussion, which can be very useful for the university and further studies. You can talk with them about what had happened in the school that day and you can ask them about some current affairs like what’s there in the news and the issues associated with it.
- Give them Prizes for their Good Results: Greeting success of your children is a vital part of the inspiration process and supporting them, therefore you might introduce some rewards when they get excellent feedback or top grades. You don’t need to spend huge money on the incentives. A bit more pocket-money is an easy choice, however, you might also provide optional incentives like a movie ticket paid by you or their favorite food, or some cash to use for music downloads! It’s important that you don’t cut their pocket-money in case of bad grades as it is upsetting and has a possibility of having opposite effects on children’s minds.
While you hand over the responsibility for your child’s education to the school, sometimes it may feel as you can’t do much to assist your children to shine in the studies. Nevertheless, as we have gone through many points in the article, there are many other things you can do to help them from sidelines, having an unreliable degree of association required from you. Whereas they could not always value your involvement immediately, you’ll feel good because you’re doing all you can do for them, so they will show gratitude to you for that one day!
In conclusion, if you think whether to associate with your children’s learning or not, take encouragement from the fact that children whose parents have associated with their studies tend to get better grades, with superior self-respect, and behave in a better way at the school!
