Family Time
Encourage Social Skills in Children: Danny the Dragon Author Offers Tips
One of the ways parents can increase involvement is by supporting their child’s education and helping him achieve academic success. An important part of this, which parents don’t often think about, is teaching your kids the social skills they’ll need to succeed in school. Here are some tips for parents on how they can send their child to school with the social skills they need to successfully interact with teachers and other students.
First, it’s important to teach your child to ask for what he needs. How can he get help unless he’s able to admit he doesn’t understand something? A great way to instill this in your child is to practice it at home.
One of the most important things you can teach your child is manners. Teachers may attempt to teach students politeness and social skills, but if it’s not being practiced in the home, the child will not successfully absorb these lessons. Your child should be taught when to say, “please,” “thank you,” and “excuse me.” Have him practice sharing things, taking turns, and waiting his turn in line.
Point out good examples of behavior to your child when you see it. If you’re watching a movie or out in public, you can say to your child something such as, “Did you see how the man held open the door for the lady? He was being a gentleman.”
Finally, rehearse at home anything your child may feel awkward saying or doing with other people. In such a way, you’ll be able to get your child interacting with others with ease.
Success in school isn’t only determined by academic skills and knowledge. By following the helpful tips above in the time you spend with your child, you’ll notice an improvement in your child’s education experience in no time as they become more comfortable in their learning environment and better equipped to flourish in it.
Children Need Good Literature
The fact that kids need good literature is not a new one. Just look at the number of awards available in the United States alone to reward authors for superb children’s literature. The long list of such awards includes the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, Coretta Scott King Award, and Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal. With such an extraordinary effort made to celebrate good children’s literature, there must be something important about it.
I know how short the attention span of a child can be yet how thrilling it is to watch a child’s imagination partake in an exciting adventure story. However, why should a child read good literature rather than watch an “educational” television show or an entertaining children’s movie? The answer lies in the benefits of reading to your child.
Research continues to support that reading benefits children of all ages in a number of ways. Reading helps to build your child’s vocabulary, develop his imagination, and improve his ability to communicate. In fact, there is a direct relationship between how many words an infant hears in a day and his language skills, and even his intelligence quotient. Reading is crucial in exposing your baby or young child to a variety of words. The images and colors in children picture books and illustrated books are also stimulating of the imagination. This is part of the reason why I spent a whole year interviewing illustrators after writing the first book in my series, Danny the Dragon—I knew from reading to my own children just how much children appreciate art in children’s literature.
So the next time you’re shopping for the kids at Wal-Mart, think twice before you get them another DVD, remember the pleasure you get from curling up with a good book, and pick out some high-quality children’s literature instead.
Helpful Tips to Encourage Learning in Your Children
First of all, read to your children! Studies show that reading to your child can begin before the age of six months, as soon as they’re able to enjoy the images and pictures inside of their books. Children have varying attention spans and you should keep in mind not to push too far past these limits and not to force them to read, as children tend to dislike things they are forced to do when it’s not on their own determinism. You can read to your child or have them read you, or take turns.
Play board games to stimulate an interest in learning. Not only are they tons of fun, but they help your child develop his reading skills and practice following rules.
A family day at the museum, library, or other stimulating place will encourage your child to be interested in his environment and take a hands-on approach to learning. Ask your child questions about the artwork he sees at museums, such as “Why do you think the painter chose this color?”
Volunteer at your child’s school whenever possible. You can go along on field trips, help decorate for class parties, or read to the class. This will show that you care about your child’s schooling enough to go to his school yourself.
Finally, make sit-down dinners a regular part of your family’s evening, turning off the TV and cell phones so you can sit and talk without distractions. Take advantage of this time to show a genuine interest in your child’s schooling and in academic subjects in general. Ask him lots of questions, tell him funny anecdotes about when you were in school, or tell him what you thought of the book he’s reading in his literature class when you read it in high school yourself. This gets across the important message that learning is important, one of the most valuable lessons you’ll teach your child and which will help ensure his success in all his future endeavors.
Getting Involved in Your Child’s Education
First, make sure your child is well-rested and well-fed. A well-balanced diet, with nutritious meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and healthy snacks after school, has been shown to improve academic performance in children. Kids also need to be well-rested in order to focus during the day.
Next, take advantage of every opportunity to meet your child’s teachers, such as parent-teacher or open-school nights. Not only will you make sure you’re not missing vital information, such as what the teacher expects of your child’s homework assignments, but you’ll show your child and his teachers that you care about his education.
Familiarize yourself with your child’s daily routine by making a copy of his schedule. If you know gym class is on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, you can make sure your child brings his gym clothes on these days.
Check your child’s backpack and planner to make sure you see teacher’s notes, important dates, permission slips, and graded assignments and tests. You prevent your child’s embarrassment in school by making sure your child is prepared for the special events and activities you’ll find out about through your backpack inspections and can provide your child with help for anything you find he may need help with.
Stay connected with other parents. Sometimes your child’s perception of what’s occurring in the classroom may not be accurate, or perhaps your child hasn’t been mentioning some essential information. By forming connections with other parents, you can ensure that you’re not missing out on vital data.
Is Your Child Struggling with His Homework? Tips on How to Help
If your child is clearly upset or unable to figure things out, or if his teacher isn’t giving him the help he needs during the school day, you should step in and work out the child’s misunderstandings. The idea is to keep your child winning. Academic confusions can build up over time so that kids may eventually take a loss on studies. You will help to create independent learners by making sure they understand the basics of arithmetic, reading, grammar, etc. so that as they progress in school, they’ll be able to grasp new lessons and apply what they learn effectively.
Another way to foster independence is to read over his work and make a challenge for him to find the words you see are misspelled or other mistakes. This will get him interested in and used to checking over his own work for errors. It is also essential to get your child in the habit of using reference materials on his own. Get him a good, age-appropriate dictionary and encyclopedia set (or online encyclopedia subscription) so he can look up what he doesn’t understand. The dictionary is too difficult if your child frequently doesn’t understand the words in the definitions of words he’s looking up.
If your child is averse to doing homework, it’s probably not because he’s inherited his father’s stubbornness but more likely that he is having difficulties that need to be straightened out as soon as possible before his confusions multiply.
“It might seem like an attitude problem, but his reluctance may be a sign that he’s having difficulty with the material,” says Jed Baker, PhD, author of No More Meltdowns. You should talk to your child’s teacher to see how he’s doing in class; if he’s struggling, he needs help. Go back through the beginning of his material and move forward clearing up any misunderstandings about terms and symbols. Also, make sure he didn’t skip a vital step in his learning. For example, some kids have a very hard time doing long division because they didn’t fully understand multiplication or because they were absent when the class was learning about estimating. Go back to basic concepts and make sure he understands these.
With these tips you’ll soon find that your child is not only able to get through his homework better, but he’ll even perform better in school, and you and your family can focus on a variety of other fun activities to do together after school.
Getting the Kids to Listen
First of all, maintain eye contact, looking at your child when you talk to him, Tina says. Talking over his shoulder while he watches TV or calling to him from another room is not conducive to communicating effectively. Turn off the TV for a minute and kneel down to your child’s level so that you’re facing each other, Tina advises, and then go ahead and talk to him.
Be realistic in what you’re asking him to do. Sometimes I see parents who ask their children to do age-inappropriate things that they’re just not yet capable of, and it overwhelms them. You may just be asking too much of them.
How do you get along when you’re starving or after a poor night’s sleep? If you suspect your kid is hungry, get him a high-protein snack to give him a blood sugar boost, and then go ahead and repeat your demands.
Next, when you offer your child choices, only give him one or two at a time because too many choices can overwhelm him. Instead of asking, “What do you want to do?” ask “Would you rather help with the laundry or set the table?”
Finally, be positive and supportive when your children do what you want. When they do listen, say thank you or tell them they did a good job. You’ll get more of what you support with positive remarks.
Developing listening skills in your children isn’t usually an overnight task, but by following these tips, you’ll find that soon there will be a recognizable change in how your kids respond to what you say.
Homework Help Advice to Parents
First of all, consistency is key. Except for when extracurricular activities interfere, your child should aim to do his homework at the same time every day as part of his daily afterschool routine. You can test to see when the best time is for homework. Make sure your child has eaten a healthy, high-protein snack before he begins his homework, and studies have shown that many children perform work better after physical exercise, which can increase a child’s concentration.
Another part of the routine is where your child will study. It’s important to create a regular study space. If they settle down at the kitchen table near you, they will be able to get the help they need, and you’ll be able to get them back on track if they start wandering from their task. Make sure you provide lots of room and keep supplies well-stocked and nearby.
Next, it’s important to reduce distractions. I recommend making study time a family affair with all kids doing their homework at the same time while you sit down with your own “homework” such as bills or some reading. This will help create an atmosphere of diligence and concentration, as your kids will follow the example you set. Also, make it a rule that there’s to be no TV or videogames, or other distractions, until your child is done with his homework.
Aim to help your child become an independent student. Elementary-school kids usually need help, but you can check with your child’s teacher to see how much you should be helping him and how much he should be able to do on his own. Sometimes teachers prefer that parental involvement in homework stay at a minimum so they can determine the progress of your child. Show your child how to use a dictionary and encyclopedia so he can try helping himself before he goes to you for help.
Healthy Eating for the Kids—Easy Tips
It all starts with some planning. It’s best to create a menu for the week with healthy recipes that take thirty minutes or less to prepare, unless you know you’ll have more time available for cooking. There are many easy, healthy recipes available online which you can prepare in a snap.
Homemade cooking is the best way to ensure the family will be eating right. Even healthier TV dinners can be packed with sodium. When you prepare your own food, you are in control of it. You can add powerful nutrients by throwing in some wheat germ oil, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, low-fat instead of regular cheese, or whatever you’ d like.
When you go grocery shopping, I recommend that you leave the kids at home. If you do have to take the kids along with you while you go shop, make sure everybody eats a big, filling meal first. One of the most important steps in improving your kids’ diets is keeping the house full of healthy foods instead; remember, your kids can’t binge on junk food at home if you don’t have any.
Prepare snacks ahead of time for the week, keeping them in high-quality storage containers. Your kids can grab from these ready-made snacks, such as celery and almond butter, when they start to get hungry. Eventually, you’ll be sure to find tons of good-for-them goodies that you’ll both approve of.
Finally, get the kids involved in healthy cooking. Studies show that children who participate in household chores, such as cooking and making their own lunches, grow up with a better sense of self and end up more successful than less helpful or involved children. Kids of all ages will be able to find some way to help with the cooking, and they will love to be included.
Speaking Out about Parental Involvement
Parents often ask me how to make their own family more like Jimmy’s in Danny Meets Jimmy. One answer is being actively involved in their children’s education and lives. Research on the effects of parental involvement shows a consistent, positive relationship between parents’ participation in their children’s education and their children’s academic performance. Studies show also that parental involvement is associated with lower dropout and truancy rates. There is no question anymore that parental involvement positively impacts the education of children.
Parents often ask my how they can increase their involvement. If their children attend school outside the home, they should make sure to meet their children’s teachers and stay actively connected to them with notes to and from school. A lot of teachers use e-mail these days to stay in touch with parents as well. There are a number of creative ideas for being involved with children, for example cooking with one’s children. These are just a couple of examples of the many ways parents can become more involved in their children’s lives.
Library Visits with the Kids—Some Helpful Tips
There’s nothing like good, old-fashioned visits to the library to get your kids interested in reading and encouraging them to become avid readers themselves.
You can start bringing your children to the library as early as infancy—around six months of age, or when they start to become interested in looking at the pictures in books. Make sure your baby is well-fed and well-rested before your trip so he’ll be able to enjoy himself and you’ll find it easy to keep his attention on the books you’ll show him. For infants and toddlers who are still interested in putting any and all objects in their mouths, board books are thick and strong enough to sustain the chewing and saliva of your baby’s mouth. Spend some time reading to your baby in the library and walk your baby around to look at all the books.
Libraries these days tend to allow you to check out a very large number of books. Our local library lets us check out fifty books at a time! Bring a colorful, fun bag to carry the books home with that you check out. Since many other babies have touched and put their mouths on the board books you’ve checked out, when you get home, take some organic, baby-friendly sanitizing wipes and wipe the books down. Then, read often to your baby from the selection of books you’ve bought.
As for older children, take them to the library when they’re also well-fed and well-rested so that they don’t get cranky. Show them your own favorite children’s books and let them pick out books that they’re interested in, too. You can take turns reading to them and having them read to you. Have them check out a pre-determined number of books and enjoy them with your child during story time before bed or any other time you want to read with them at home.
Each child has a different attention span. Never force a child to read or listen when they don’t want to. Oftentimes you’ll find that they’re tired or hungry, and you yourself don’t like doing things when you’re tired or hungry either, do you? Letting a child read and be read to on his own determinism helps him to have a positive association with reading.
Make sure to check out a book or two yourself, and read it between library trips and finishing it before you return it. This will set a positive example for your children to follow.
With the above tips, you’ll be on your way to raising children who are avid, proficient readers with a bright future ahead of them, while establishing a family tradition everyone will be talking about for years to come!
