I think that all parents dream of their children studying with joy, and not only at school, so that the pleasure of learning and the pursuit of new things accompany them all their lives, and not just within the walls of the educational institution. At least I dream about it, therefore, although there is still a whole month of summer ahead, I have already thought about how my child will go to school on September 1, how I can help him learn easily and with pleasure. I asked my friend a child psychologist to give me recommendations. I share what she advised me.
Explain the reasons for learning
For example, when I was in school, what was there to hide, and in a university of a course until the third, I really did not know why I was doing this. Everyone goes to classes, and I go. It would be much easier for me if my parents explained to me the meaning of attending school. And the child psychologist confirmed that it is important to explain to the child what he is learning for. Here are some examples of how you can talk about this:
- Studying gives you the opportunity to build a rich future in which money will not be a problem, to choose the life you want to live for yourself.
- Studying helps to meet, and then to connect your destiny with a beautiful and intelligent man (woman), to find interesting friends, because when a person is educated, he is interesting to a lot more people.
- Learning is part of life. We need to constantly learn, because the world around us is changing rapidly. If you want to be a successful person, you need to strive to learn new knowledge.
Help children develop healthy habits
Good habits are crucial for children to get the very best out of life as quickly as possible. For example, if you teach your children to devote an hour to reading every day for personal development, then they will be able to quickly recognize themselves and understand what they are really interested in. It is worthwhile to teach children to allocate time for sports, and even better to do everything together, then long hours at a desk will not negatively affect their health.
Never scold children for poor grades
Bad grades really mean nothing. It has long been proven that grades are subjective, often not dependent on the child’s real knowledge and skills, but on their relationship with the teacher. Of course, there are objective teachers, but all the same, grades are not the best way to analyze the progress of children in school.
The child psychologist emphasized how important it is for the child to know that you love and support him no matter what he has in the classroom magazine. It is not necessary to strive to ensure that the child will certainly be an excellent student, because this leads to the development of perfectionism in a person, and in the future to more frustration in life. Remember that every time you scold your child for grades or punish, you will fix negative associations with the learning process in it.
Help children overcome difficulties and failures
For some reason, most parents forget that they should be support for the child until he becomes an adult, they want their children to succeed on their own, and refuse to help in difficult situations.
If a child encounters problems while doing homework, he must be helped as much as possible. If you do not want or cannot do it yourself, it is better to contact a tutor than to leave the child alone with his difficulties, thereby reinforcing a negative attitude towards learning. Only having managed once, albeit with help, then again, your child will begin to gain self-confidence, a love of learning and a desire to move on.
Lead by example
This moment was called by the child psychologist one of the most important. Usually, we parents want our children to be active, like to read, study, have a lot of friends, and yet after work we lie on the couch in front of the TV or sit, burying ourselves in the laptop, we don’t remember the last time we read the book . But nature itself in children has laid down a mechanism for copying the behavior of adults significant to them. Therefore, no matter how much you would like it to be otherwise, if you want children to be active and inquisitive, be the same yourself. If a child sees how a mother with burning eyes learns something new, and it doesn’t matter whether she is knitting, growing flowers or programming, he will follow the example of the behavior of the parent.
Be patient, supportive, and compassionate.
Being a parent is not easy, it requires a lot of physical and psychological forces. You can only mentally hug all those who have chosen this path for themselves. But if you want the child to study actively and with pleasure, be prepared to give support. It is important that children understand that they can rely on their parents at any time, and especially when they face difficulties, problems, conflict situations, poor grades, etc.
If you refuse to evaluate, teach by personal example, support and show patience, you will choose the difficult path for yourself. But the reward for your efforts will be self-confident children, inquisitive, open to the world, with developed discipline and willpower. I think it's worth a try.