How to Stay Motivated & Succeed in School
With the high-stakes game of school and the high pressure, it’s sometimes difficult to know the best parenting strategies that can promote learning. Success in a school setting isn’t all about report cards. Your child needs to learn how to learn, keep the information, have independent thinking, ask questions and increase the sense of competence. Here, you will get the best information to keep your enthusiasm and momentum throughout the school year.
Key values
There is plenty to think about every school year, but the following tips will keep you focused on the vital things for school success.
The DOs
- Enhance self-advocacy in kids.
- Promote healthy sleeping habits.
- Aim on the process and not the product.
- Have long-term goals.
- Love the child you have and not the one you wish to have.
The DONTs
- Worship grades
- Overschedule
- Encourage helplessness
- Love kids according to performance
- Compare kids
Value the process more than the product
Young kids get driven naturally to explore and learn. They are at their best stage to start their quest to gain mastery and understand the world around them. You need to talk about your failures and success stories with the kids. It will show them that you were also invested in the learning process. You need to keep the report cards off social media and the refrigerator. Despite the type of report card a child gets, social media only fuels parental competition. It raises pressure on kids and teaches them that your love is contingent on their report card data.
Value goals than grades
Set goals at the individual and family level. Do this at the start of the year or month, or season. Keep this discussion low pressure and light. The process shouldn’t be about getting better grades but supporting learning. Before setting new goals, assess how every family member performed on the previous goals. Review the goals every month or semester and know why you didn’t achieve what you planned. If you succeed, then celebrate yourself.
Keep a long-term perspective
Parenting and education are long-haul endeavors, and improvements will not happen every day. Think about where your kid should be in the next one or five years in terms of growth and competence. When something goes wrong in your life, talk about it. Maintain your focus on doing better next time and have long-term perspectives. In case of any mess at your job, create a discussion to target the improvement and the long-term progress in that area.
Assist children to develop effective good routines
It’s easy for children to stick to a plan they made themselves. Instead, kids should be part of the strategy-making process for efficiency in operations. Help the kids to make the systems they made to operate, keeping in mind their deadlines. Learn more about help service providers and avoid low-quality ones. Your role here should be like that of training wheels on a bike. When kids familiarize themselves with the systems and strategies, raise the wheels until they no longer need them.
Promote good study habits
Don’t depend on the myth of multitasking in kids. Instead, switch off the TV and music to increase the productivity and concentration of children.
Ask the kids how they wish their homework routine to look like. Then, assist them in creating a vision.
Limit the use of phones when doing homework
Phones are distractors when in a room where kids are doing homework. Let your children see you are working in a distraction-free environment that boosts focus. Work on your projects the way you would want your kids to work on their projects.
Incorporate technology
Have plans on how you will use technology in the family. Think about the data, minutes, or context. When you need your family homework and dinners to be technology-free, agree on the best time with the family in advance. Sign a technology contract that you can use as a reference if any family member violates it.
Conclusion
You can use many models to help your children succeed in school. Before using any of the model, ensure you understand how the kid’s brain works. Then, you will be in a better position to drive them to success.
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