How to Help Your Child Succeed at School?

Imagine you live in the beautiful city of Perth, where many child prodigies have been found. You expect your kid to be brilliant, too. So, when your child fails, what do you do?

Do you start searching for the best English or maths tutors in Perth? Or do you look into why your child failed and offer the necessary support?

Unfortunately, most parents today are inclined towards hiring tutors and making their kids study even at home. They don’t understand that additional study hours will never help a child succeed at school.

What a child really needs is support in finding the root problem and eliminating it. So, in today’s post, we will discuss exactly how you can do that. Dive in!

What Affects a Child’s Success at School?

The first step in helping your child succeed at school is to understand what is hindering the growth. If you automatically assume your child is dumb or unintelligent, then the problem is you and not your kid.

No kid is less than others. Everyone has equal potential, and the only way to unlock your kid’s potential is to look for the difficulty that hindered his growth. To help you get started, here are a few factors that you should consider:

●  Parental Involvement – the biggest motivation for kids to study is their parents. When these parents don’t acknowledge their progress or appreciate their achievements, the children feel neglected and unseen. Hence, the motivation to study drops.

●  Nutrition & Sleep Quality – we all know that humans function well when they are well-fed and slept. If your child doesn’t get enough food or sleep, then he/she won’t be able to focus on anything that is being taught.

●  Regular Attendance – it’s easy to give in to your child whining and crying about having to wake up early. We all remember our school days, and so we don’t want our kids to go through the same.

But letting your kid skip school every other day just because he/she didn’t want to wake up early, was feeling a little sick, or you didn’t have the energy to drop them to school is not okay. Missing school means missing progress!

●  Bullying – this is a very important issue. It’s possible that your child faces some kind of bullying, either from the teacher or the children. This doesn’t only make them hate school but also badly affects their mental and physical health.

How to Help Your Child Succeed at School?

Once you’ve identified the problem, think up ways you can offer direct or indirect support. For example, here are some of the ways to combat the problems discussed above:

1. Take an interest in your child’s life.

Since a lack of parental involvement lowers a child’s motivation, learn to take an interest in his life by asking them how the day was and if something exciting happened. This doesn’t mean you should force them to tell you everything.

But whatever he/she tells, listen to it attentively. You should also stay in touch with the school teacher and know what is going on. If there are any events, attend and encourage your child to participate.

And most importantly, appreciate whatever your child achieves instead of comparing them to others. Don’t break your kid’s self-esteem, build it!

2. Focus on diet and sleeping patterns.

It may appear a little controlling but it’s important to feed your child a healthy and well-balanced diet. Prepare a food schedule and cook meals accordingly. If possible, consult a dietitian to know what nutrients are deficient in your child & how you can help overcome them.

As for sleep, make your child sleep for at least 8 hours. If he/she is habitual of playing games & binge-watching Netflix at night, shut down the internet before sleep time. But, if your child struggles with insomnia or other problem, offer help through weighted blankets and creating a proper bedtime routine.

3. Ensure regular attendance.

Usually, kids are responsible for waking up and getting ready for school themselves. But if your child has a way of making excuses, make it your responsibility to drop the child at school no matter what.

4. Protect from bullying.

If your child mentions any form of bullying, don’t brush it off or ask them to deal with it themselves. The reason your child is talking about it is that he/she can’t handle it. So, instead of being ignorant, fulfill your responsibility of protecting your child and talk to the teacher.

Also, educate your child on how to avoid bullying, stand up against bullies, and defend against physical attacks. If necessary, change the school. Please note bullying is a serious issue that must not be ignored in any situation.