For School Success, Dont Coddle Your Kids
Parents want their children to succeed in school. However, sometimes their best intentions are misguided. Attempts to provide children with a wonderful life can, in fact, increase the stress of the entire family. One of parents' most common mistakes is to want to make everything easy for their children. It's painful for parents to see their children struggle. If children never do anything difficult, however, they never learn that they can successfully meet a challenge. Here are some things parents can do to promote their children's success in school: ? Make school attendance a family priority. Try to schedule doctors' appointments and family vacations when school is not in session. Have your child arrive at school in time to organize for the day. ? Show your child that you consider school to be important. Attend parent meetings and conferences. Talk with your child about school. Don't overemphasize grades. ? Read to and with your child. Let your child also see you reading alone. ? Either rule out or treat physical difficulties, such as vision problems, hearing problems, or attention deficit, that may impede learning. ? Don't overschedule your child. Be sure at least three hours between school and bedtime are free of extracurricular activities. ? Encourage healthy sleep patterns. Because of the changes their bodies are undergoing, adolescents actually require more sleep than younger children, perhaps nine hours per night. ? Provide your child with nutritious foods (limited in sugar, fats, caffeine, and additives). Be sure your child starts the day with breakfast. ? Make dinner a family activity, complete with conversation on a wide range of topics. ? Provide a place, with minimal distractions, for your child to study. Be sure the study area is well lit, well ventilated, and equipped with all the supplies your child is likely to need: pencils and pens, dictionary, ruler, stapler, etc. ? Establish a definite time each day for homework, reading, or other academic activities. ? Don't allow TV or video games in the morning before school. Limit total time for these activities to 10 hours per week. ? Don't give your child everything he or she wants. Doing so will teach the child that desires can be satisfied without work. ? Be sure your child has household chores to complete without reminders. ? Help your child develop the habit of writing all assignments in an assignment notebook. It works best if assignments are written on the date they are due. ? Help your child learn to organize time and materials. Begin to wean your child from this help as soon as he or she is able to assume partial responsibility. ? On nights before a test, have your child review material just before bedtime and then go to sleep without reading or listening to music. This will aid retention of material studied. ? Make homework your child's responsibility. This lets your child know that you recognize him or her as a capable person. ? Be sure your child gathers together each evening all the materials that he or she will take to school the next morning. ? Allow your child to experience the natural consequences of his or her actions. For example, don't retrieve things the child forgot. ? Have realistic expectations for your child. If his or her abilities are slightly above average, do not expect the child to be at the top of the class. ? Recognize that your child's teachers are striving for the academic, social, and emotional development of many children besides yours. Seating your child next to a best friend, for example, may not be in the best interest of the class -- or even of your own child. ? Recognize that there will be times when your child will be frustrated by a difficult task. Resist the temptation to solve the problem yourself. Your child will learn and grow from this experience and will emerge with confidence to face the next challenge. A successful school year depends on the cooperative efforts of parents and teachers -- and, of course, on the students themselves. Each member of the team must fulfill his or her own responsibilities -- and allow the other members to fulfill theirs. A parent and former teacher, Fran Hamilton is the author of Hands-On English, now in its second edition. Hands-On English gives quick access to English fundamentals and makes grammar visual by using icons to represent parts of speech. The book is for anyone 9 years or older, including adults. Fran also publishes companion products to Hands-On English and free e-mail newsletters: LinguaPhile, published monthly, is for people who teach and/or enjoy English; Acu-Write, published weekly, addresses common errors in English. Both are available at http://www.GrammarAndMore.com.
Related News
What it takes to be a good parent in today’s culture - The Prairie Star
The Observer - Sarnia Observer
Faith and Spiritual Life: Outreach - HeraldNet
Sarah Palin's Feminists for Life Membership Points to Pro-Woman ... - LifeNews.com
Denver rules: A guide to parenting, the Democratic Convention way - Globe and Mail
Amherst Center: Lessons for town in kids' allowance debate - Amherst Bulletin
Man sentenced to 18 months for cat stabbing - WTHI
Parish needs more foster parents - Natchez Democrat
Parish needs more foster parentsNatchez Democrat, MS -3 hours agoIn that same region, there are approximately 200 foster parents. In Concordia Parish, there are only 10 foster parents, but there are 30 foster children in ... |
Struggles of single parenting - Waseca County News
Waseca County News |
Struggles of single parentingWaseca County News, MN -6 hours agoBjerklie’s parents, who live in Bjerklie’s hometown of Fergus Falls, Minn., have a tight-knit relationship with Hannah, and Bjerklie also has brothers who ... |
Father to gallery: leave parenting to parents - Canada.com
Father to gallery: leave parenting to parentsCanada.com, Canada -Aug 25, 2008"I am appalled that an agency of the federal government would think it had the right to tell a parent how they can hold their child, that they are going to ... |
|
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Importance of Mothers
Moms, did you ever question your value as a role model, caretaker, administer of hugs and Band-Aids? I think we all have in today's climate of "do more, get more, have more." Many of us work to bring home a paycheck and others work for our sanity. Have you ever wondered if your children were better off with the baby sitter than you? Scientific studies are beginning to point to the overwhelming value of a mother's love, hugs and support. Nannies, baby-sitters and relatives are terrific. They just aren't as terrific as Mom.
The Old and the New
During one "generation gap" quarrel with his parents young Michael cried, "I want excitement, adventure, money, and beautiful women. I'll never find it here at home, so I'm leaving. Don't try and stop me!"
With that he headed toward the door. His father rose and followed close behind. "Didn't you hear what I said? I don't want you to try and stop me."
"Who's trying to stop you?" replied his father. "If you wait a minute, I'll go with you."
?Gimme? Proof Your Kids: How To Keep Your Child?s Materialism In Check
It's the first day of the summer holiday. Five year-old Stephanie is shopping with you at Wal-Mart and picks out three stuffed animals that she saw in the movie Madagascar. "Oh Mom please! I want to bring Alex and Gloria and Melman to Kinder Gym with me!" she says and stomps off in disgust when you tell her she has to choose only one.
Watering Your Young Child?s Mind
Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.
Childrens Safety in Public Places - 10 Useful Tips
My kids ask me all the time to take them to playgrounds or any other public place. I can't help to think that the risk involved in this is greater than we are often aware of. I have four kids, which makes the task of keeping track of everyone very stressful. To me, taking my children to a public place is not "a walk in the park" anymore. Actually, I feel that I am a little traumatized. My 8 year old son, (a very active little guy), has been lost 3 times in public places. Once in a huge department store at the age of 3, another time in a natural park where he took off in his bicycle by himself at the age of 4 and the latest time in a crowded public fair at the age of 5. Fortunately he has always been found save and sound.
Best Investment
Every week I write something about the stock market - how to, when to and where to put your money and how to protect it from loss if you do. This week I want to say something very important to the young folks about success. And you parents take note if your kids are still young.
Playing Safe
Do you really want your child to enjoy playing with a toy that was made on the other side of the world by people who are no more than children themselves, and paid 30 cents an hour - a paltry sum that can barely sustain them? Unfortunately, all too often, that's exactly what you're doing.
Spending Time With Your Child
Why Is Spending Time with Your Child So Important?
Where Is Your Homework, Lisa?
Is Homework Really That Important?
How to Make a Time Capsule
Looking for an unusual and memorable gift? Why not preserve a slice of history by creating a time capsule for your loved one?
Work Before Play
Many families, ours included, have learned that breakfast is eaten after we are dressed and have made our beds. Dressing and making a bed somehow only takes five minutes when done before breakfast and take forever if done after breakfast. If it is your child's job to see that the pets are fed and watered, he should be required to do that before he sits down to eat. Wise parents establish a time line for when you expect the job done. For instance, a phrase like, "By the time I take you to your baseball game," or, "Before you can turn on the TV," lets them know what you expect. That way the kids know the ground rules and they are measurable. If the task is not done within the time frame, they recognize there will be consequences, either natural or logical
Finding Answers to Underachievement
Finding answers to a child's underachievement is often a difficult and complex process. Let intuition be your guide, knowing when and how to ask the right questions. Here are 7 steps to get you started:
Diagnosing ADHD in Children, an Introduction
Everyone in a private practice setting who works with children or adults is going to have their own opinion on how Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - ADD or ADHD - should be diagnosed. Some clinics take the perspective that "more is good," and will recommend a large battery of tests, often costing many thousands of dollars. Other clinics, typically with hurried physicians, will simply give a brief rating scales to the parents and then make a quick diagnosis and prescribe treatment, usually a medication.
Childrens Friendships Made Easy
Most research into children's friendships shows that those children who are able to form friendships when they start school are happier at school and also learn better.
How Much Water are You Wasting?
Are you being smart about water conservation? Do you consider yourself an environmentally conscious person? Well, how do you wash your car? Do you do it in your driveway? If you wash your car in your driveway with a garden hose and shut-off nozzle, you will use five gallons of water to fill your soap bucket to get suds. You will then wet down your car for two minutes or more, soap your car and then rinse the car for four minutes or more. If the garden hose has 60 PSI of pressure or more it puts out a minimum of ten gallons of water per minute (GPM). The total amount of water usage is as follows:
We All Wish That Our Children Have Good Virtues, But... Are We Setting A Good Example Ourselves?
We all wish that our children should not smoke or drink, should not speak lies, should not steal, should not have a violent nature, etc... but are we setting a good example ourselves?
Positive Parenting of Teenagers: Helping Your Teen Understand What I Cant Afford It Means
Because most teens have not had the experience of getting to the end of the money before the end of the month, the words, ``I can't afford it,'' have little or no meaning.
Teaching Problem Solving Skills to Children with ADHD
Even though the "Stop and Think" movement in ADHD treatment has lost some momentum lately, the basic strategies and techniques are still worth teaching your children. My favorite version of the technique it the "Five Step Problem Solving Strategy," and it goes something like this. . .
The Truth About Motherhood
What is the mystery of motherhood? I know that when I was pregnant, experienced mothers could not stop giving me advice on taking care of newborns, delivery expectations and child care solutions. Yet, no mother ever told me how dreadful post partum depression could be, how much my world would change, how one person can bring so much to my life. I am taking this opportunity to share with expectant and first time mothers the truth about motherhood:
Parenting Your Teenager: What to Do When Your Teen Feels Left Out
On a recent Saturday evening, I noticed a young teen-age girl crying alone. My first impulse was to go over and check on her. Worried that my approach might be taken the wrong way, I just smiled at her and went in the store to meet my wife. I forgot about it until we came out to the car.
|
