Parents Part in Children’s Educational Process

A child’s education starts at home. For a child, every parent should be his or her first teacher. So parents’ role in the education of their child is very critical. They form a bridge between their child and school. Child, school/teacher, and parents form a triangle. When they work together children often tend to do better in school. They achieve not only academic success but also develop better social skills.

In this essay, I will discuss a few ways in which parents can contribute to the education of their children.

This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate SAIRA U. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.

Parent-child communication

Communication is an effective way through which parents can know about their children's daily activities. Most parents rely on reports, test/assessment result to access their child‘s performance, this should not be the case. Parents should talk to the children daily, to learn how their child spends time at school. What he or she has learned today? Any difficulty that he/she is facing at school?

Also Read: 7 Activities for Teaching Reported Speech in the ESL Classroom

Parent-teacher communication

Maintaining a parent-teacher relationship is also very important. Every parent should set aside time to go for parent-teacher meetings/academic sessions. They should keep communication with the teachers regularly for the progress of their child. It will show your interest in your child’s performance.

Home support

Helping your child at home to prepare for the test/assignment will be productive for the child. It is better parents should not leave their children on their own. They should help the child preparing their home assignment. It will not only increase the confidence of the child but will also help the parent to maintain a strong bond with their children. However, the parent should be the guiding hand. They should not overdo in helping their child while preparing for the tests/ home assignments. In any case, it is their child's work and he /she should have enough space to work on their own.

Also Read: What is the difference between TEFL TESOL and CELTA?

Encouragement and reward

Reward and criticism is another effective technique through which parents can contribute to their child’s education. Motivating them to do better and rewarding them on occasions can help to boost a child’s confidence. Moreover, constructive criticism helps them to understand what is good for them and what is not. If the child is not giving enough time to study, try to find out the reason. In most of the case, a child is having difficulty at school or ignored at home.

Also Read: Who will my students be when teaching English abroad?

Setting a positive environment

Providing a conducive environment at home for learning is also the responsibility of the parents. They should not over-schedule them with work at home. Balancing their work time and playtime is very important. Do not bring your work tensions at home and avoid discussing family problems in front of the child. Maintaining a peaceful and enjoyable environment is necessary for the mental and physical well being of the child.

Parents should set aside time from their busy work life to spend quality time with their children. It is extremely advisable to go on recreational and educational trips often. Go out for a picnic, eat together, go to a museum or a zoo would help them enormously to learn new things. These trips will also help them understand the areas of the subject/topics in which they are having difficulties. Organize different forums of activates at home/school or in the neighborhood for the child. This will help them relax, have fun with other children, interact with them.

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In this way, you can create an active learning environment for your child. To sum it all, there can be various ways in which parents contribute but I think the more important way is to be a role model for them. Children can easily get inspired by what parents do. Inspire them, guide them and most importantly be their friend. Boost their confidence level and assure them that you will be there at all times when they need you. This will help them to grow self-esteem and the will turn out to be a better human being in all fields of life.

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