Here are 8 ideas to help you to help your child. Some of these suggestions like reading and talking with your child are easy to accomplish every day while others will take some practice. We can always learn to improve ourselves as people and as parents. Keep your expectations realistic. If at first you don't succeed try, try again.
How to
Unlock Your Child’s Academic Potential
Success
often depends on how well-prepared children are for elementary school. Here's
how to get your kid kindergarten ready
Last month, the White House announced
the winners of a hotly contested competition among states for early childhood
Race to the Top funding. Proposals from governors — 17 Republicans and 18
Democrats — totaled more than four times the available funding and underscored
the fact that long-term academic success depends in a large part on how
well-prepared young children are for elementary school. Of course, with budget
constraints, all of America is looking for cost-effective ways to invest in
America’s future. As parents begin making plans for their preschoolers for the
coming year, they can use clear tips from new research to help get kids ready
to learn when they walk through the doors on the first day of kindergarten.
A child’s I.Q., intellectual
ability and social and emotional skills are like muscles — they develop or
atrophy based on how well adults help children apply effort through specific
actions starting from a young age. A seven-year study
in Silicon Valley showed that children demonstrating academic readiness and the
ability to self-regulate — especially paying attention during activities and
following multi-step directions — by kindergarten were three times as likely to
meet reading level standards by third grade. This list of practical tips can
help prepare kids academically and socially:
1) Read, read, read with each
child — at least 20 minutes daily. Make it fun and engaging.
Use reading as a basis for conversation with your child. Keep books in eyesight
in baskets, on shelves and coffee tables. Placing books within reach for kids —
and kids seeing parents read books of their own — stimulates reading activity.
Parents who don’t read well in English can be effective by reading in their
native language or showing a book while making up stories. An Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development study,
published in November 2011, shows that kids whose parents read with them
regularly at a young age performed as much as a year ahead of their peers
academically by age 15. If money is too tight to buy lots of books, take them
out of the library.
2) Talk, talk, talk with your
child — everywhere you go together. Prolong rather than abbreviate
conversations. The average conversation length between parent and child correlates
closely to the child’s future I.Q. and reading levels. Longer
conversations help the parent and child do what researchers call the language
dance — where parents ask open-ended questions, provide their own perspectives
and use exchanges about basics as springboards into imaginative conversation.
3) Give at least three positive
expectations or tips for each time you correct your child. Instead of always
correcting your kids (“Stop that, don’t leave before clearing your plate,”)
help them understand your expectations (“Once we finish eating, we’ll all clear
the table to make room for playing here.”) When the child follows through, give
specific positive praise for their efforts (“Thank you for waiting with us
until everyone is ready to clear the table.”) As they learn academically, cite
specific efforts (“You focused so well on practicing and learning to count!”)
rather than attribute learning or failure to innate ability or personality.
4) Help children develop
character and learn social and emotional skills. This includes patiently
helping children learn to self-regulate through turn-taking games, two- and
three-step directions and age-appropriate basic chores. While it takes many
years to develop, self-control has double the impact of I.Q. on future
educational success. And listen to a child one-on-one, while repeating the
child’s sounds or words. As they grow, ask them to tell you something about
their day. Build understanding of others’ perspectives by asking children what
they think others are feeling.
5) Devote space and daily time
in your home for kids’ imaginative and pretend play with your kids’ art up on
walls. For children, play — with their family, with other children and by
themselves — is fun. Play helps kids learn to interact with others and practice
what they learn. Building blocks of character, positive relationships, language
and academics are learned through play.
6) Find a high-quality pre-school
for your child. Visit programs and ask about their goals for addressing
academic, social and emotional needs. You can search for accredited programs
through the National Association for the
Education of Young Children and learn how to analyze a
program’s fit for your child with the help of a book like Choosing the
Right Preschool by Bryan and Emily Hassel. Send them to
pre-school ready to learn with 10 to 12 hours of sleep and a good breakfast.
7) Limit how much your kids
watch television — or any other screen. A study
from the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine shows that over one hour
daily of television negatively impacts future academic performance and impairs
a child’s ability to pay attention.
8) Put mobile devices away for
most of your time with kids. Talking or tapping on your phone can limit
important parent/child conversation and can send a message that you don’t value
time with your children.
I know, I know, all easier said
than done. As a parent, I can assure you that many days go by when I don’t get
these right. But these tips will work best if we don’t make the perfect the
enemy of the good. Even if you have a bad week, keep at it. Kids are resilient
and they love learning. They can catch up for lost time. Making progress will
brighten your child’s future.
Schnur is executive chairman
and co-founder of America Achieves. The views expressed are solely his own.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.