5 Tips for Parents to Help Your Child Develop Effective Study Skills
By Ryan Bronson
As children grow and develop, the need to guide them in developing the necessary skills they need per life phase becomes a pressing necessity. Children are easily malleable, i.e. because their brain is still in stages of development, it is easier to direct them towards the right way of acquiring knowledge. Be it related to schoolwork, interactions with others or life in general, parents have a responsibility to carry out during the formative years of their kids.
As children move from level to level in their education, they encounter an increasing level of difficulty in subjects offered. This is often a prompt to step up the current study skills the child had succeeded in mastering. Or it could be a sign to make some adjustments instead of changing the study tactic all-together.
Now, as adults, we can easily search out effective study skills when we feel that what we are used to isn’t working anymore. We know different ways to make ourselves gain knowledge and maximize learning tactics. Children, however, are yet to even grasp how study skills work. They may not be able to figure out on their own what methods of learning to engage in. Instead, their constant state of development leaves them exposed to a number of study tactics, and largely dependent on the elders around them. While the teachers also play a role in helping kids establish their study habits, the main task in developing effective study skills lies in the hands of their parents.
GET YOUR KIDS ON THEIR A-GAME
As your little boy or girl grows bigger, you may have noticed at certain times those things that attract him or her, and those things the child has a hard time absorbing. Because you spend more time with them, you have a chance of influencing how they relate to their schoolwork. It is very possible to plant your ward on the path to becoming a straight A’s student. And the tips below are sure to amplify your efforts to make them shine brighter:
- Creating the environment
One of the foremost things you would want to invest towards effective study skills for children is creating a distraction-free, conducive environment. This could be a room in the house, a particular spot in their room, or even a favorite, calm spot in an outdoor park. It’s essential to ensure that the environment is totally free of distractions because one of the attributes that improves assimilation is focus. Children get easily distracted, especially in crowded or noisy places. Creating a space for them to study is optimal and very productive. - Map out a plan
Disorderliness is one of the negative traits that has the potential to affect everything around it, including study times with your wards. Especially in cases where they begin to handle a large number of subjects or large number of topics in one subject. The planning out of their study time will save you both so much stress and will help you both focus more on the difficulties of the school work.When planning time, also plan the subjects. To do this, parents need to be in close touch with the teachers in order to know where the kids need help or what they find difficult in assimilating.
- There’s nothing to be shy of when asking for help
Now, this is actually a serious issue. Many kids get scared to ask for assistance due to past experiences where they probably got shamed for doing that. This is a wrong thing to do. All students must be taught that there is nothing downgrading in asking for help. Everyone needs help now and then because everyone encounters different challenges.
Teach your child not to be afraid of requesting much-needed assistance, and teachers should be sensitized to provide assistance when needed.
- Positive vibes only
Parents, this is for you. Reminding your kids of all the credits you got at their age in a condescending manner isn’t the way to go at all. Children are very sensitive, so there is the possibility of communicating the right information wrongly. It isn’t wrong to tell your children about your experiences, but you can turn them into encouraging talks.For instance, instead of just saying “When I was your age, I did twice as better than you ever did in the past year” you can say “When I was your age, I also had these challenges but I dealt with them and performed two times better than before. If I can, so can you”. Sentences like the latter lift your child’s spirit and self-confidence. And it pushes them to keep trying, knowing their parents see the best in them.
- Do not encourage your child to cram
Cramming involves forceful retention of information for a short period, just to pass exams or score high on a test. When researching ways on how to improve study skills, avoid any methodology that will make your child cram. Cramming will kill the ‘vibe’ associated with learning new information. Encourage your child to study in short bursts – two pages now, two pages after several minutes. This gives them a chance to reflect on what was studied without getting overly bored. Ten-minute breaks between learning sessions are encouraged as well.
There are tons of other ways to improve the learning experience for your wards. Consulting with other parents, talking with child counselors or reading certified content online are some of the surest ways too. Whatever method or tip you choose, ensure it’s something your kid can flow with, something he will grow with and use for life.
Ryan Bronson works as an editor and a children co-ordinator during camping sessions. His love for children has led him into writing more about how he thinks they should be introduced to learning structures. He checks all of his works on https://eduzaurus.com/plagiarism-checker, so he is always able to guarantee the quality of the texts he writes. That and his interesting thoughts are the key factors that make him such a popular content-maker.
