If your child dreads going back to school, you need to find ways to make them excited about school. A child who is excited about learning tends to do better in school. Here are ten tips to get your child to be excited about school:
Remind Them of the Good Things
Children may fail to want to go to school because they probably think of the negative parts and the things that could go wrong. The child’s mind could be wrapped around mean kids, flunking classes, failing to make friends, and grumpy teachers. Please help them by pointing out the reasons why school is great, like fun activities at school, clubs, teachers singing, and playtime.
Teach Them How the School Helps Them
Most children may have heard too many times that in school if they work hard, they will acquire a college degree, but most of them they do not understand what it means for their future. Point out to them why they need to go to school and how it helps them achieve their goals, whether to be a doctor, teacher, veterinarian, ballerina, or even a football player.
Be Excited Yourself
Children like copying their parents, so being excited about school will be a positive plus for your child. Enjoying learning is something most children pick up from home. So will they if you love practicing a skill, solving problems, or learning new things.
Encourage Them to Read
Academic success is dependent on mastery and interest in reading skills. If you have younger children, try reading aloud to them with a kindergarten book read aloud. You can encourage them to alternate pages reading with you. Children who enjoy reading books are most likely not overwhelmed with doing homework that depends on reading books.
Play Pretend
Suppose your child is going to kindergarten. Attempt doing simple things such as playing teacher and learner with your child. It does not matter who becomes the teacher; it can be you or your child. When playing pretends, please do not bring up anything that may stress your child or make it too challenging. You can use a board and ask your child to add numbers or spell simple words. When your child raises their hand, call out on them and praise them when they get a correct answer.
Do Not Set Expectations for Your Child
Some parents find themselves overpraising their children, which works the opposite of what you expect. Setting certain social expectations for your child, such as telling them they will make friends easily or are so smart, makes them fear disappointing their parents. Moreover, overpraising your child will make them not trust your opinion and eventually lead to your child either building up fear of disappointment or an ego. This may destroy your child’s self-motivation and self-confidence and, thus, resent going to school.
Spend Time With Your Child Discovering
Foster the curiosity of your child by being curious yourself. Take the questions of your child seriously and wonder aloud about things. Watch science and nature shows with your child, and then discuss what you learned from them. This will keep the fun of learning in your child alive.
Encourage Them to Write
Apart from reading, writing is also critical to academic success. Most parents celebrate when their child can write their names, but it should not stop there. You can start building the writing skills of your little ones by asking them to describe a drawing they have made.
Show Interest in Their School Activities
If a parent is genuinely interested in what a child is learning, the child will be interested too. Allocate some time to discuss what they learned at school. Ask your children questions that will need them to describe the answer and not the yes or no answers. Do not do your child’s homework. Just be interested but not critical.
Have a Homework Area
The homework area can be a private desk or a kitchen table. It is important for the child to have a specific place and time for homework and all the supplies they need. Having a physical space aside for homework signals that school should be taken seriously- Check in from time to time to check their progress.
Conclusion
The above tips will make your child more excited about school, and they may wake you up on school day with a smile on their face.
