RULE FOR PARENTS OF STUDENTS

 

Rules for parents of students of any age :

*             Set up a homework area . Free of distraction, well-lit, with all necessary supplies handy.

*             Set up a homework routine. Studies have clearly shown that students who establish a regular routine are better organized and, as a result, more successful

*             Set homework priorities. Actually, just make the point that homework is the priority – before a date, before TV, before going out to play, whatever.

*             Make reading a habit. For them, certainly, but also for yourselves. Kids will inevitably do what you do, not what you say (even if you say not to do what you do). So if you keep nagging them to read while you settle in for a 24-hour Breaking Bad marathon, please consider the mixed message you are sending.

*             Turn off the TV. Or, at the very least, severely limit when and how much TV-watching is appropriate. This may be the toughest suggestion to implement – I know, I weathered the strum and drag of my daughter’s teen-aged years. (Stella Cortel).

*             Talk to the teachers. Find out what your kids are supposed to be learning. How else will you know what help they need? You may even be “helping” them in ways that are at odds with what the teacher is trying to accomplish.

*             Encourage and motivate, but don’t nag them to do their homework. It doesn’t work. The more you insist, the quicker they will tune you out.  

*             Supervise their work, but don’t fall into the trap of doing their homework for them. Proofreading a paper, for example, is a positive way to help your child in school. But if you then enter all the corrections yourself, your child has learned nothing…except that he/she is not responsible for her own work.

*             Praise them when they succeed, but don’t overpraise them for mediocre work. Kids have well-attuned antennae for insincerity .

*             Convince older students of reality. Learning and believing that the real world won’t care about their grades, but will measure them by what they know and what they can do, is a lesson that will save many tears (probably yours). It’s probably never too early to (carefully and tenderly) inform your little genius that life really isn’t fair…and give him or her the resources to help deal with that fact.

*             Make sure your kids have the technology they need to succeed. Whatever their age, your kids really must be computer savvy in and after school.

*             Turn off the TV already!

 *            Hide their cellphone and turn off IM (Instant Messaging) and text alerts while they are doing homework. They will inevitably try to convince you that texts, chats, alerts, and messages will in no way interfere with their algebra homework. Parents who buy this argument have also been persuaded that sitting in front of the TV is the best place to study.