Help your Child with Studies

Every individual has her own methods. Do not discourage your child to use her own curious ways of studying if that’s the way the job gets done.

Ankit is a bright student and yet he is having a hard time coping with his studies. His is a joint family and this offers a big distraction. There is not enough space and time for studying. Ratna likes to learn with soft music playing in the background which helps her concentrate on her studies. However, she has lost interest in her studies since her mother took that option off the list. Rohit does not want to study at all. He just wants to play games on the computer all day long after coming back from school.

All these kinds of issues hinder your child’s studies.

The following are some ways by which you can ensure that the homework is done and your child is not lagging:

Encourage any style

• Motivate – Encourage your child to study. Children need encouragement from you to study. Explain to them the importance of education. Make your stories exciting by giving examples of educated people they adore from within the family. Give the child the bigger picture.

If this kind of motivation works, well and good. However, in many cases pep talk will not work. Children these days believe in a give and take arrangement; you need to give them something to get something from them. So if nothing else works you can tie up the educational progress of your child with their wants and demands. However, only consider appropriate demands and fulfil them only when your child has successfully met the study related goals.

• Appropriate Learning Style – Allow the learning style that best suits your child.  Each child follows a unique learning style. Some children like to study in a quiet environment, whereas others like to learn with music playing in the background. Others like to study with an upright posture whereas some others may like to study lying down on the bed.

Do not discourage or force your child to change the learning style they are used to. Just ensure that the environment in which they are studying is comfortable and not interfering with the ongoing learning process.  

Focussed attention

• Study Schedule – Fix an exclusive time for studying. Children often fall behind in studies if they do not revise and recapitulate what they have learned in school or if they do not do their homework regularly. As a part of positive parenting, daily ask your child what they have studied in school. Also, check your child’s school diary or notebooks for home assignments. Monitor that your child completes their homework on time, every time.
 
The daily routine of your child must have a fixed amount of time that is exclusively dedicated to studies. If you have enforced the habit of studying from an early age, your child will never ever have any major problems with their studies.

• No Distractions – Remove all things that interfere in your child’s studies. A good way to help your child with their studies is to remove all things distracting. Make sure that your television, home theatre, or music system is turned off when your child is studying or its sound is turned down.  

During study time, discourage your child to attend the door or the phone; it will surely interrupt their studies. Also, see that your friends or even your child’s friends, neighbours, or relatives do not frequently visit your home during the study time. Your social commitments should not interfere and hamper your child’s studies.

• Additional Help – Take help of tuition classes if required. In spite of the aforementioned ways, if you still find that your child is falling behind in their studies, it is advisable to take the help of home tuition or coaching classes.

Helping your child to take interest in their work is a hard job. One must be innovative and creative besides following these simple guidelines. The trick is to give them a concrete picture. Show them that being good at studies can be ‘cool’ by giving examples of famous people or celebrated family members. The more visual the testimony is, greater are the chances of success. However, helping to make homework lighter or studying comfortable is an everyday contribution you can make.