1. How to show your child that learning can be pleasant?
Starting school is a great event in the life of a child, so it is worth making sure that it has as many positive associations as possible with the learning process.
How to do it?
- Make sure that the child has a well-arranged plan of the day, including time for learning, meals, and having fun with siblings, parents and colleagues is, contrary to appearances, very beneficial. If the child has a planned time to study, he will be more willing to sit down for homework, even from habit.
- Prepare a place to learn for your child – together go shopping and complete accessories for the desk (lamp, colored pen holder, notebook pad with your favorite cartoon character) – let your child choose the items they really like.
- Make sure that the house is silent while doing homework. Calm is conducive to concentration and helps to develop good habits.
- When doing homework together, pay attention to issues with which the child has difficulty – keep the child’s doubts up to date to know that the material he is dealing with is manageable. Never make fun of mistakes made by a little student – remember that the beginnings of school education are not easy.
- Show your child that the messages he has acquired are of practical application – in the store, count as much as possible for the amount of home shopping; when walking in the park, try to recognize different species of trees, etc.
- Talk to your child about the school – ask about how he goes during the lesson, with whom he spends his time on breaks, what he likes at school.
- Remember that a child who feels that they are actually in the center of attention of the parent will be more willing to talk about their achievements and problems in learning that can be solved together. Understanding for a child is very important, especially in the first years of school, when a toddler has to enter a new environment and a whole new world for him.
- Limit the time your child spends in front of the TV. Take care of the quality of programs watched – thoughtless entertainment does not help in learning, while valuable programs enrich the child’s messages and expand his knowledge about the world.
2. Books are the best incentive to learn
A child who, from an early age, reads for pleasure, with less resistance, will reach for school textbooks and performs better at school. To encourage a child to read, it is best to read with him from an early age. Children like to imitate adults, therefore the mere fact that a parent can be caught with a book is already an incentive for the child to reach for reading. Provide your child with appropriate books, as well as newspapers and comics, familiarize yourself with the written word and the library. Books are not only boring, dusty and thick books, you must show your child that reading books is a pleasure.
Shared reading and conversations about read books also bring good results. You can talk to your child, for example:
- about why a given character behaved like this and not otherwise;
- about what the child would do on the hero’s place;
- about what might happen later.
Picture Credit: White77