It’s not that easy to watch one’s child being that child who doesn’t get to win prizes for academic excellence. It can get really hard being the parent who gets called often to school to try to figure out why the child doesn’t seem to process anything being taught during lessons in the classroom.
Neither is it that easy being the parent who listens while neighbours, friends and colleagues banter about how wonderfully well their children are excelling at everything in and out of school, while yours is still struggling to understand the concept of school. It gets so exasperating sometimes, being the parent who has to admit, “oh well, my child may not be there yet. But one day, just one day soon, the stars of good fortune will locate her”.
Frankly, it goes beyond just having good fortune shining on a child who ‘feels left behind’ by peers to move past falling behind in studies to having the ability to catch up with school work. It takes much more than just wishful thinking, whether parents believe it or not.
Perhaps, parents and schools also need to know that any child not doing so well in school probably needs an adult who can breathe positivity over him/her. Deep down inside, every child would like to be told that ‘everything will work out just fine’. Every child can be helped to succeed, irrespective of academic levels of performance. Indeed, every child deserves the opportunity to be helped to make the most out of any situation, even bad and seemingly hopeless situations.
If you’re an out of sort’s parent right now, maybe these tips could help you make the right and informed choices of getting your child to catch up with school work:
- Do not let your fears come to real life. Letting your child know that you have real fears for them could have a negative effect on their performance. Breathing down negativity on the child could, therefore, be counterproductive.
- Get informed. Find out from the teachers how your child is faring at school. Probably ask for a referral to speak with someone who would be helpful to share about your child’s current performance.
- Before hitting the internet to get more information find out if a professional can be helpful with easy to do tips and also help point you towards the right direction.
- Look for every opportunity to get involved with your child’s learning. Try not to be the teacher but earnestly seek to ask your child to show you what he/she is learning at school. Then, try to help the child by studying with him/her. Some experts suggest that helping the child figure out how to do things differently could be helpful.
- Be a parent-coach. Help your child develop strengths and focus less on weaknesses. Also focusing on solutions not problems will help the child build up self-confidence for studying better.
By Bridget Uko
