While no one expects a child to be more enthusiastic about his homework than he is about his playtime, with a little help from you, learning can be less of a chore.
Relevance
Try to relate what your children are learning to something they are familiar with. If your children are studying archaeology remind them of the visit you took to the science museum.
Says Clinical Psychologist and Child Psychotherapist Shagufta Bhattacharya of Family Service Centre, "Many children have an issue with whose need the educational process is. It seems like the society's need or the teacher or the parents' Everyone is looking at what the child is doing instead of what s/he is."
Homework
While you should not appear like a policeperson, it is a good idea to check what the child is turning in. S/he might need help or may be confused about a topic. But at the same time, do not solve the problems for the child. Have the patience to move at their pace so they can discover the joy of knowing a new thing.
Find tools to make it more interesting. There are many educational software programs available that make learning fun. Says Roma Misra, a mother of a five-year old, "I learnt to provide folders for keeping papers together and a calendar for noting assignments. It taught my daughter how to read the calendar too."
Basics
Early to bed, early to rise is just one of the rules to make your child happy.
Set a regular bedtime and stick to it. Have children lay out there clothes the night before, so they aren't running around frantic in the morning trying to figure out what to wear.
Keep their minds in a relaxed stable mode before school. Make sure they eat a healthy breakfast. This will give them the energy they need to pay attention in morning classes.
Study skills
Many parents as well as children don't understand why their grades don't reflect the amount of time they study. The problem may be the result of poor study skills. Study skills aren't necessarily acquired naturally, and many schools don't specifically teach study skills.
Learning styles
Discover how they learn best. Kinesthetic learners learn most effectively through direct experience. Activities, note taking and writing works for them. Auditory learners prefer to listen to information given orally and process the information by repeating it aloud.
Visual learners process information best by picturing things in their minds and developing mental images. They understand information best when it is given to them in print, diagrams or pictures. Encourage their natural learning styles but help them to develop the other styles as much as possible.
Success and failure
If you expect and recognise success, you will get more of it. On the other hand, you should let the child face whatever comes his or her way. Says Shagufta, "Many parents are afraid to let the child experience the whole process. They feel the child should never get punished. In fact you should let children experience the consequences of whatever they do." Following directions
Allow your child to participate in household projects such as cooking and assembling.
These activities require reading and following directions. Giving children opportunities to do things for themselves and learn from their mistakes allows them to develop the skills and confidence needed throughout their lives.
It also helps them value learning. Shagufta says, "You need to look at education as an overall developmental process rather than just a marks oriented process."
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