Well here we are at back to school again! When your
child starts school, it really is a whole other dimension. But when your questions of “What did you do at school today?” at pick up constantly get answered with “I don’t know” or “I forgot”, it can be rather confusing to know where and how to support your child at school! Also, nobody wants to be known as the pushy parent, but still, supporting your child at
primary school without actually doing it for them is what we’re all aiming for here, right?
And because as usual I’m full of all the questions, today I’ve invited Cognitive Behaviour therapist Leann Middlemass and fellow school mum and tutor Nasreen Stewart to help us understand better exactly what we should be doing to support our school age children. Perfect timing for
back to school! Read on to find out….
Have meals together
Having meals together where each child gets to talk about their day allows them to unload emotions. If the
parent goes first hopefully a relationship is built where the child may feel its okay to talk about an issues they are having.
Listen, listen, listen
When
listening to your child do not put your perspective on things. This is their life and how they view it. There feeling right or wrong are still their feelings. And as parents even if we say we understand- truly we do not for the feeling of one child may differ greatly with another.
“Yep”, “I hear you” and “Uh hummm”. Three very important
words when listening to a child. Sometimes a child may just wish to unload without anyone adding their opinions. This is
brilliant for teens who just wish to vent and do not need your unsolicited advise. This way they feel they are being heard and not judged.
Encouraging your child to read, is essential to their learning. Children should be read to every night, especially when they are young. As they are getting older maybe share the reading, so that you both do some. Find ways to
encourage them and motivate them when they are reading so that it is a fun environment for them. You could put out pop corn and give out blankets so that the kids get all cosy and excited before they take out their books. Just the way we provide these before they watch a film.
Communicate with the school
It is important to have a relationship with your child’s teacher but communication is the key and this can be done through the teacher or you, writing in your child’s homework diary etc. Ask your
child and their teacher if they are on track, if not then find ways to help them at home. You can buy books online or just go through some of their school work with them.
Encourage active learning at home
Families continue to be important educators even when they have moved on to school. You can encourage active learning at home through fun games such as Scrabble, Dobble, Rat a Tat Cat and other educational games.
And then there was homework…
The key to homework is to get them to do it as soon as they get it, so that they don’t forget and make sure they are doing it, not you! Quite often
parents get too involved and this doesn’t help the child.
Preparing for tests
Children
as young as six are stressed about school tests! When it comes to helping them prepare for a test, always prepare in advance, don’t cram everything in, otherwise this can make them anxious. You can revise by doing fun quiz’s and mini tests at home. Be sure to time them also so they are prepared.
So there you have it – some tips to help support your
child at school, from one parent who is still trying to figure it out! What do you think of the tips above? Or perhaps you have some of your own to share? Do leave a comment below.
Related
The school years fly!! My girls are both in high school now, eldest is year 9 and has already chosen her GCSE options, second is having her first day in year 7 today, eeek! My son starts juniors (year 3) on Monday. These are all great tips you have shared!
My little two returned to school yesterday and have gone into year 1 and 2 and my teen starts 6th form tomorrow – yikes! We always chat about their day on the way home they tell me what they had for lunch and who they played with and what they learnt etc, I love hearing about their days x
Great post this! Man do I NOT MISS the Homework days. That was just a constant battle year in year out lol
Great tips on encouraging children to read.
I think meal times are so important. It’s good for everyone to be able to talk about their days and for children to let you know what they’ve done.
Thank you for this. It’s useful for parents who might have kids who are struggling or just for common sense use, school years can be fun but challenging.
Great tips. I think we all get too caught up in the rush of the routine, but we make time to eat meals together and also to read with the kids at night. It’s important, and benefits the kids so much.
I think they’re all great hints and I’ll be keeping them in mind next year when our son starts primary. I do ask him how his day has gone when he comes back from preschool and often get “I don’t know” but usually he’ll open up on the way home in the car with at least one story of the day. And I make sure I listen.
Great tips here. I struggle a lot with four of them, it’s hard to find the time in the evening to do everything but I find just small measures can make a big difference, eating together and chatting about our day is a big one!