[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here are a lot of titles that get thrown around these days about parents that are super involved in their kids’ learning. I hear about tiger moms that push education all year long for their kids and helicopter parents that are looking over everything their kids do and don’t let them out of their sight. I like the dedication of these parents, but I don’t think I want to be so extreme as to warrant a label like one of these.
I want my kids to be educated, sure, but I don’t want them to be miserable. I think there is a fine balance there. You push the kids further with their education than what they might think they are capable of, but not so far as to make them hate education or you as a parent.
Look, we all want our kids to achieve, and that sometimes means making them do things they don’t like to better themselves, but if they are spending most of their free time doing educational activities, what kind of childhood are they really having? Or if they don’t have hardly any free time because of their education, then are they really getting a chance to be a normal child?
I applaud parents who can get their kids to excel above the other kids around them, but with the excelling comes isolation sometimes. These are kids that are achieving at higher level than every one of their peers, and that can lead to them being ostracized and to no one wanting to be their friend. I’ve seen parents make that even worse by telling their kids to stop associating with people who will bring them down. The mean well by that kind of advice, but it can teach the kids to shut themselves off from everyone who is not at their level.
I do think parents should take extra time in educating their children at home, though, and not just let the schools do all the educating. You can make sure that your kid is keeping up with their studies and that they are getting a well rounded education. You can’t just rely on the school to do all of that for you. While the education system we have in place is decent, there will be teachers who just don’t put in the effort, and your kid may be in their classes. You may have to take up the slack at home when the teachers don’t do their job.
I know that has been the case with me and my children from time to time. I will notice that my child is falling behind other kids her age, and I have to step in and help her with her studies. I’ll take as much time as it takes to do that, and sometimes that means taking time off from household chores or work to give her the assistance that requires. I know some parents struggle with leaving their household chores to be done another day or to be done by someone else, and I suggest hiring a cleaning company such as DCC for those kinds of situations. Just let them do the work for a couple days or a week while you work with your child. The price you pay to ensure that your kid is getting a good education is a small one and always worth it.
I find that I can gauge how my child is reacting to school work and find what works best in their situation. I know when my kid is having a bad attitude about homework just because she wants to go play video games and is feeling lazy that day. I also know when my child is struggling with homework because it is too hard for her and she doesn’t understand the work. I pay attention to the assignments and determine if they are fair for my child. If I think they are unfair, I will talk to the teacher rather than just telling my child she does not have to do them. I know if I go against the authority of the teacher in front of my child then I will hamper the teacher’s ability to command respect and have authority in the classroom. At the same time, I don’t want my child to become depressed about and frustrated with her work, and striking the balance there can be difficult.
Sometimes, I have to sit down with my daughter and walk her through the homework, not giving her the answers but making sure she understands the basic concepts. I found that the work she has the most trouble with is the stuff that she just missed learning the basics on. Honestly, that is the most important thing you can do as parent with your kid’s education, in my opinion- make sure they have the basics down.
There are going to be a lot of other kids in their classes, and teachers may miss a few when they are making sure all the students are on the same level or at least understanding the basic concepts. The teacher may ask whether everyone understands something, and my kid, just like many others, will say yes even when she doesn’t understand. She does not want to stick out and seem like the dumb kid, and she’s not a dumb kid by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes she just won’t get concepts and will need a little extra special attention with those ideas. That is true of most kids, and you need to be able to identify those problems and address them at home or bring them up to the teacher, if you feel like it is something over your head.
I can teach my child division and multiplication, but some aspects of grammar are going to be too much for me, and I know I will need to tell the teacher about them and have them take the extra time with my child. Knowing when to do that is a key part of the education struggle.
