The Artful Life: 10 Crafty Tips to Boost a Child’s Self-Confidence and Improve Academic Performance: #5
Categories: Art Education, family, The Artful Life
As parents, we strive to help our children grow up to be healthy, productive adults. Times are changing faster than ever, and parents are working harder to make ends meet. With constant introduction to new technology, as individuals and as a family, we have more choices than we’ve ever had before. So how do we stay focused and ensure we give our children the best upbringing possible? In this series we will share some tips we have found that help children develop a positive self image, and encourage success in the classroom.
#5: Volunteer in the Classroom
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| Image by missyxlovesxyou via Flickr |
I am not going to lie to you, this could be one of the most difficult tasks on the list (for us, it’s harder than giving up the cable!) If you have school-age children, one of the most important things you can do is to get yourself into that classroom! Why is this hard? Because when you are dual-income family, there is always work to be done! Even if one of you stays home, there is always work to be done!
However, if you don’t spend time in class, three things don’t happen:
1) Your children don’t see you valuing the time in the classroom. When they see you take time out of your day to assist in their class, they get the message that this is an important place to be!
2) You don’t get to know the teacher and the methods of teaching in the class. Support your teacher, and she/he will support you! This is a very important relationship to have. You will also get a chance to understand the curriculum and the schedule in class.
3) You don’t get to know the other kids in your child’s class. These days, it is getting impossibly hard to have consistent social interaction with classmates outside of school. Kids are busy with all kinds of different activities, and it’s hard to match up schedules. So how do you know how to encourage your child to build relationships if you don’t know who the other kids are? Most kids are great; I love getting to know different children and having the opportunity to work with them. However, some children are a discipline problem in class, and since I know that, I can encourage my child to make different choices. (And when it’s my child acting out-of-line, I can be on top of it!)
How do you get involved with your child’s academic time?
Stay-tuned for tip #6 tomorrow! Did you miss the first tips? Start here
