Sometimes, we tend to be stage parents most especially with school matters. We want to ensure everything is falling into place and our kids are really learning and having good grades and positive remarks from teachers. But as the kids are growing, they get independent and wouldn’t want their parents to be involved anymore even though the school encourages students to make their parents or guardians be involved on their learning journey.
As parents, what else can you do to make yourselves updated and relate to your kids’ school activities without irritating them? In this article, we will share effective tips to make the involvement a pleasant experience for both parents and students.
Give children a sense of control
We see children as young as three would not want to hold hands or be carried by their parents anymore. They want to feel as if they are in control of their lives. Of course, you can get involved, know the full details but don’t micromanage. By letting them take control, you are helping them to develop a sense of autonomy and responsibility which can help them a lot in school.
Create a routine and schedule
Having a routine and structure can help develop motivation and avoid conflicts at home. In order to prevent conflicts when doing homework for example, set a routine to check homework and complete them. Random inspection of homework is not advisable and reliable either. Without a routine or schedule, you are making homework a daily battle between you and your child. Making a routine also teaches them time management and discipline in following the schedule.
Get to know who’s who in the classroom
Your children spend five days a week in school so it’s good know who they are sharing the classroom with. It’s not really knowing each and every one. You can get a vibe about the classroom’s atmosphere by simply attending seminars, parent-teacher conferences, and other events done in school. During those times, try to talk to their teachers, friends and classmates. This way, you can know if the environment is good for your children and help them grow to be responsible individuals.
Encourage them to read, learn actively and work independently
By simply reading them stories as early as one year old makes them love books and stories which they could adopt and pursue when they grow up. This is also a good foundation to trigger active learning which involves continuously finding new information through a lot of reading, research or by even watching documentary videos and educational TV programmes. Overall, this kind of self-learning promotes a sense of independence and confidence since they are more likely to would have acquired more valuable information than those who do not read books.
With these tips, you can make sure that you are getting involved with your children’s learning without pissing them off. This can also help you shape better character to your kids and prepare them enough when you enroll them to more advanced schools such as Singapore International School for example where every child is smart, competitive and has qualities of a great future global citizen.