Helping Your Child Succeed in School

The actions you take (or don't take) as a parent can make all the difference to your child's success in school. Parent habits, family routines - things that on the surface may seem trivial - can positively or negatively impact your child's interest in school and academic achievement. As a result, it's important for you to "do the right things" to help your child achieve in school.

Without question, there are many things you can do. The following five actions, however, are extremely important:

1. Make Sure Your Child Gets to School Every Day, and Is On Time.
Good attendance is critical to academic performance. Missed class time is missed learning time, and each subsequent tardy or absence just compounds the problem. To put absences in their proper perspective, a 20-minute tardy or absence from school each day means 60 hours (or 2 school weeks) of missed learning during a school year.
Keep in mind that your child's teacher can't teach a student that isn't in class, so don't take precious class time for granted.

2. Give Your Child the Tools He or She Needs to be Successful in the Classroom.
Success in school take more than just student effort and good teaching. Your child must come to school each day with the "tools of the trade." These include and go beyond standard school supplies such as pencils, notebooks, and textbooks. A proper diet is also a vital tool, along with making sure your child has money or tickets for lunch or even breakfast. A hungry child will not be able to concentrate or work very well.
It's also important that students show up at school with the required books and completed homework. This means that you must be familiar with your child's class schedule and assignments and monitor whether he or she has the necessary materials from day to day. The school years provide a perfect time to being working on life-long organizational and preparedness skills with your child.

3. Make Sure Your Child Gets Plenty of Rest.
The value of a good night's sleep cannot be overstated. no child can learn while sleeping (or fighting off sleep) in class. Make sure that bedtimes and waking times are consistently enforced, and are ample enough to provide eight hours of sleep each night.

4. Support the School.
You have a tremendous amount of credibility with your elementary school child. And your attitude about school and learning, whether positive or negative, will rub off and affect your child's performance and motivation to do well.
If you do happen to have a disagreement with the teacher or other personnel, take it up with the teacher or principal privately. while you should certainly approach the school with any concerns, you do your child no favors by airing your frustration in front of him or her. After all, a child's attitude toward teachers and school will affect his or her learning.

5. Be Organized, and Teach Your Child to be Organized.
One of the keys to success in school is the ability to manage time and tasks, and you are in a position to be a great role model for this skill. If you are organized, your child will be too. Consistent household structure and routines, such as set mealtimes and bedtimes, are very important.
In addition, it is important for your child to know your schedule, where you will be, and how to reach you during the day. This helps children feel secure and safe, which aids learning.

Quick Tips:

Sit down with your child every Sunday night for ten minutes to review both of your schedules. This will help you both stay on track during the coming week.
Have your child prepare their backpack for school, and set it by the door the night before. They should also have their coat, hat, gloves, and boots with their backpacks, to avoid confusion (and tardiness) in the mornings before going to school.
Try to schedule dentist's and doctor's appointments outside school hours. *

* "Helping Your Child Succeed in School", from The Master Teacher, Volume I, August/September, 2002, Number I.