Author name: shemford

Transition Time for Preschoolers and Elementary Students Children progress through many grades during their school days and they face many challenges. Changing academic demands make some students very jittery and they find it difficult to deal with the emotional changes. Educators have identified certain transition points in a child’s school life which are predominantly demanding and the children usually need emotional support when faced with these challenges — physical, emotional, social and academic. Preschool, elementary and upper elementary are the very first of the transitions that a child is faced with. Preschool Transition Physical/Emotional Challenges — for most children, preschool is an introduction to conducting themselves without the presence of their parents. Children begin to realise the very concept of discipline and manners. Social Challenges — toddlers at a preschool have to conduct their activities together and develop friendships with each other. Academic Challenges — preschoolers develop listening, basic reading and recalling skills and paying attention. Early Elementary Transition Physical/Emotional Challenges — transition to a grade school means attending bigger classrooms and longer school days, i.e. extended separation from parents and the usual caregivers. The students have to adjust to the concept of daily time tables and a routine life. Completion of assignments becomes essential. Social Challenges — children form much more comprehensive friendships as compared to preschool and develop their first set of ‘best’ friends. Academic Challenges — children are introduced to basic reading and mathematical calculations. They learn how to read and make an effort to understand the meaning of words. They begin to identify with the characters in stories. Upper Elementary School Physical/Emotional Challenges — in the elementary grades, more independence is handed over to the children. Different personalities of the students begin to emerge and their different aptitudes are more apparent. Social Challenges — children try and expand friendships and begin to work in cooperation with each other and tend to get more comfortable in once particular kind of social circle. Academic Challenges — the mere acquisition of basic skills becomes redundant. Now, children are expected to be able to use basic skills to acquire information and solve problems, to be competent in reading comprehension and writing skills.

Letting the Child Know About the Importance of Homework If a child is watching TV beyond the regular, stipulated hours – tell him so and discourage the child to do such an act again. Make sure that the child is not making casual telephone calls during the homework time. But a call to a classmate about an assignment should be acceptable. Children need to realise that the family members too agree with the importance of completing assignments. If the family has to occasionally let go of an outing or a visit to the mall to accommodate homework time, they should do so. This reminds the child of the small sacrifices the family is making for his education. Setting up a Schedule The child should be used to a regular time to complete his homework. This helps a child to finish assignments in time and still have enough time to play. A good study schedule should work for the child and the family. A schedule that works well in one family unit may not work in another. Making the child complete the homework just before bedtime is always a bad idea. This decreases the probability of the child recognizing its importance. Other activities including playing a sport or getting music lessons too should be flexible with respect to the homework schedule. If sometimes there isn’t enough time to finish assignments, the child shouldn’t mind cancelling out one of the outside activities. Creating the Right Environment One of the most important requirements for studying at home is the right place to study. Make sure that the study area isn’t too fanciful. Placing a simple desk and chair in a quiet place is usually good enough. The place should be well lit, preferably with a good amount of natural light and ventilation and should be away from distractions like television or music. Removing Distractions Some children tend to study better with quiet surroundings. This should not be associated with a weak concentration level. Similarly, some children react better to learning with the music being played. Again, this shouldn’t be treated as being stubborn or being distracted. These tendencies are in-built and shouldn’t be argued with or squashed just because they may seem unreasonable to a parent. Getting the Child Involved Simple resources like a pencil, pen, paper and supplies of glue and scissors should be kept handy. Try and shop for such goods with the child. The child begins to associate the importance of homework and the ‘fun’ quotient of doing schoolwork is increased when he shops for his favourite geometry set or the latest brand of coloured pencils.

Getting a child to love reading or helping reluctant young readers is a challenge faced by most parents. Kids do learn reading skills at school but developing reading as a habit and associating pleasure with reading is best inculcated in children by the parents. Get them Started One of the easiest and the most effective way to encourage children to start reading is by getting them interested in what the book holds. This is best done by reading aloud their favourite poems or the latest comic books. Once a child gets hooked on to a few characters, his own curiosity would take care of him getting genuinely interested in reading. For this, the parents need to start off early. Even a toddler can see pictures and react to them if the parent is holding the book and helps the child associate each picture with a sound or an exaggerated expression. This kind of reading time should be planned without the distraction of a TV or the mobile phones ringing. Once a child develops a particular interest, ask him to read a few pages to you. This helps to develop the child’s confidence and elocution and public speech talents. Further, the parents can act as the audience and make sure that the child reads and pronounces the words correctly. A Reading Stimulus Simple tricks like always having books and magazines around the house is a good way to make the child realise that books are an essential and commonly-found article in the house. Sooner or later, the child is bound to be fascinated by some particular theme or characters in some magazine or book. It is a smart idea to start a small, well-kept home library for children where then can sit and read and even borrow books for their friends. Allowing little children to touch or smell and even hold books can make them feel associated with books. For this purpose, parents should think about getting durable books and pick paperbacks or plastic-covered books for smaller kids. When reading out aloud, choose books that the child prefers. There numerous children\’s books and selecting the best among them is a formidable task. It is better to take the children to book fairs or bookshops and let them make a choice for themselves. However, if the children are of school-going age, they should be encouraged to visit the school library. Parents should talk to them about the purpose of a library and encourage children to get books issued from their school library.

The most recent parenting trend, at least in the urban centres is opting to have just one child. Thus, more urban children are becoming the only child. The second child is often not wanted in preference to have better careers or the reluctance of women to undergo motherhood twice or financial limitations. Some people actually believe that a single child has a much higher chance of being successful in life as he would be getting the undivided attention of his parents and the maximum parental and family support. The Challenge However, contrary to the common belief that bringing up the only child or the sole child has many challenges and parenting issues related to it. Besides the obvious problem of keeping the sole child busy in a nuclear family set-up, there are many other issues too. • Problem — a single child is becomes the centre of all the parental attention and hence the family expectations from the child are usually high. There is a tremendous pressure on the sole child to be very successful in school and in life. Solution — the parents should learn to tone down their expectations and be more realistic in their approach towards the child. The very thinking that they have made a huge sacrifice by having just one child is rather regressive. Single-child parenting is a choice that the parents make themselves. • Problem — there is always the possibility of the only child being pampered by the parents. This pampering or overindulgence sometimes spreads over to the grandparents also. This childhood indulgence could make the child develop serious adjustment problems in a social circle. Solution — the parents have to fight their temptation to overindulge the child and make sure that the child develops social adaptability rather than feeling like the ‘king’ of his domain, i.e. his home and the parent’s undivided attention. • Problem — the single child doesn’t have a sibling at home to bond with. Thus, the child tends to develop a very strong and sometimes obsessive bond with the parents and this turns into over-dependence for everything including homework and entertainment. Solution — the parents have to create opportunities for the child to interact with children in his age group. This could be achieved by taking the child to public parks and other play areas where the chances of the child’s social interaction with other kids in enhanced. Parents should try and increase their social interaction with their relatives and cousins and encourage the child to share more of his personal things including toys with others.

Issues like a child’s speech delay or developing temper-related mannerisms are often discussed at parent-teacher meetings besides the obvious subject of the child’s classroom performance. These are many advantages for a caregiver and a parent to attend a parent-teacher conference. An insight into the psychology of the parents and the ability to evaluate the kind of atmosphere they are providing to the child at home, is of vital importance to a teacher. Parents too need to look beyond their child’s academic performance and should seek an honest opinion regarding his shortcomings. Understanding the Parent Perspective It becomes vitally important that an open line of communication and responsive relationship is established between the parents and teachers who are attending such a conference. In order to do this, the parents and teachers need to stay in touch via informal conversations over a period of time. During the meet, it is crucial for the teachers and caregivers to be sensitive to the fact that most parents may have a thought process. The caregiver needs to ensure that they establish an open dialogue with the parents with the welfare of the child as its main theme. Even if the teacher has some serious issues with the child, it is imperative to establish a positive tone for the conference before embarking upon the discussion regarding the weaknesses of the child. Holding a Parent-teacher Meeting The teacher should try and arrange the parent-teacher meet at a convenient timing and should begin the meeting with some positive anecdotes about the child. The teacher should try and focus more on the abilities and competencies of the child before discussing his inadequacies. The teacher should try and encourage the parent’s side of the discussion and their inputs. These contributions by the parents provide valuable insight in evaluating the child’s home environment and the kind of parent support he has. Tackling the Problem If the teacher has a grievance or a specific concern regarding the child’s performance, he should work out a methodology that involves the parents. An involved parent is a key component in sorting out the problems that a child faces. It is important to remember that the child’s upbringing combines a classroom and his home. The emphasis should be on planning a cooperative action plan with an honest follow-up. As the meeting reaches its conclusion, the parents should be encouraged to approach with any further questions or concerns that they might have.

Parental involvement is one of the most crucial parts of a child\’s complete education. Parents should try and use a combination of a few simple measures to ensure that they aren’t compromising on a chance of improving their child’s focus, behaviour and overall performance. Attending PTAs PTA meetings are crucial and should be attended by parents, no matter how busy their life’s schedule is. Usually, the parents complain about the lack of time or interest after a hard day at the office but showing up a school meeting and school events is ample proof for the child that his welfare and education is of top priority for his parents. Parents have the liberty to be either: • Be a new-age PTA parent and participate online OR • Be an old-fashioned PTA parent and be actually present Staying Connected Parents should use easily-accessible tools like e-mail to stay in touch with the child\’s school authorities. Besides the often-circulated printed newsletters, schools have websites that help to keep the parents informed about the latest developments at school. In some schools, the teachers even distribute their personal e-mail IDs among the classmates for their parents to freely communicate and stay connected. Get Involved One easy way of easily finding out about the child\’s performance at school is by having an honest conversation with his teacher and parents of the classmates. Parents should find ways of contributing to school events. Simple contributions like writing an article for the school newsletter or making goodies for school celebrations shows to the other PTA members that the parents are serious about making a difference to the quality of education being imparted at the school. Getting support and sympathy of the PTA assures that the child is looked after and cared for. Helping Each Other Out Parents should try and stay connected with the other parents. Parenting isn\’t easy for anyone but talking it out with other concerned parents can help out to sort out issues which one set of parents haven’t been able to do so on their own. There is a huge probability that the other parent might have some experiences and hence, insight by having had been through a similar problems with their children. Parents could try and set up a parent help group which could be either in the residential block or even at the office. Children who have involved and caring parents, exhibit: • Higher grades better test scores. • Improved school attendance and low anxiety. • Motivation and increased sense of self-esteem. • Lower rates of absenteeism or suspension. • Reduced instances of violent behaviour.

It is vital that the parents establish a time-based regimen from the early age stages of a child’s life. There should be a set pattern devoted to both doing homework and playing outdoors and helping out with house chores. Planning the weekend is very useful. This is a time when the child has more time than on school days. The weekend could be sued to catch upon pending assignments and for planning ahead the school week. Similarly, if the child has been studying very hard during the weekdays, the weekends should be used to ensure that he is fresh and ready for the week ahead. Time management eventually translates into the child finding enough time for each of his activities and homework isn’t just squeezed in the daily pattern of activities. Developing the Right Attitude A child as young as someone in the first grade needs to understand that doing homework isn’t a matter a choice rather it is an absolute necessity. This may require the parents to behave a bit stricter than they usually are, but once this idea is set in the child’s psychology it seldom requires the parents to explain it again. This one-time effort is essential to make sure that the child looks upon completing his school assignments as a part of his daily routine and not as a predicament. Encouraging a Struggling Child Some children have more difficulty in getting used to sitting down in a place and studying and completing their homework. For such children, the parents have to exhibit how easy it is to concentrate. For this, if the child is facing difficulty in reading for more than a few minutes, the parents should sit down with him and they should read together. If the child complains about too much homework, help him out and tell him that he is not alone in this. What is ‘Helping-out’ with Homework? The parents should be careful and not get over-involved with the child’s studies. They are supposed to provide guidance and not answers for school assignment. By providing answers, the child’s learning abilities get compromised and he would become dependent on his parents rather than seeking their assistance and his own efforts get compromised.

The best way to promote good learning habits in children is through a joint effort, involving both families and schools. This way responsibility is shared for creating a better working relationship which is concentrated towards the child\’s overall development. Parents can help out the education received at school and the effort made by the teachers by implementing some simple measures at home. These include: Reading Together: When adult family members read out aloud to or with their children on a regular basis, the interest level of the child improves. Taking children to the library and helping them find suitable books is another way of inculcating reading and learning habits among them. Such habits assist the teachers in improving upon the child’s reading, writing and general learning skills. Establishing a Family Routine: Routines could include setting up a timeframe for completing homework, running household errands, eating meals and watching television. A family routine balances and complements the disciplining being conducted at school by the teachers. Using Television: Parents should limit the amount of time spent by children, watching the television. They should help the child choose the appropriate programs for viewing. Some TV programs help raise the level of curiosity in certain subjects and act as a resource for the lessons being taught in school. Keep in Touch: Parents should be aware of what the children are learning, in terms of their assignments, projects and examinations. A child’s progress should be ascertained with regular communication with the teachers and by regularly attending the PTA meetings. Praise and Encouragement: Parents and families play a significant role in affecting a child’s confidence and motivation to become a good student. They should encourage the child to complete his weekly assignments and participate in extracurricular activities as well. Teachers contribute to the child’s classroom learning. However, they can increase the child’s performance by involving the parents and making them a part of the education imparted. This can be done by: Involving Parents in Activities: Teachers can increase the scope of involvement of families by asking for their help with specific activities. Parents can participate by organizing classroom materials or by serving on some school committee or providing their spare time at classroom activities. The more involved parents are likely to understand the teacher’s practices and expectations from the students. Involving Parents in Decision-making: A parents’ perspective should be discussed before making decisions about the children’s teaching tools. School programs should involve the family members in setting academic goals for the children. Parents should be informed about the changing school policies and services. Parent/teacher conferences should be looked upon as an opportunity to exchange viewpoints and deciding upon the best possibilities for improving the child’s performance.

Essentially, like any other form of good communication, a parent/teacher forum for corresponding involves meeting each other. The parents should be positive and courteous when meeting a teacher and seek his/hers’ honest opinion about their child. This ensures that the parent gets a true, first-hand true account of the child’s performance in school and the problems he is facing. When to Have a Conversation? Parents should find out about the most suitable time to talk to a teacher. If the parent is at school, he/she could be tempted to abruptly ask about the child’s well being, which could be latching on to an unprepared teacher. It is imperative to check with the teacher if the time is convenient for a conversation. If a parent does happen to bump into a school teacher or staff somewhere in the town, limit the communication to exchanging pleasantries. Such accidentals meetings form a part of a social scenario and are not meant for a parent-teacher discussion. Parents Should Look Forward to Scheduling a Special Meeting with the Teacher if: • The child has special needs and the teacher needs to be informed about them before the new academic session begins. • The child’s grades have dropped rather suddenly. • The parent’s suspect that the child is having difficulty in understanding what is being taught in the classroom. • The child is very upset about something that had happened in school but isn’t volunteering to speak about it or is very hesitant in doing so. • The child never seems to do his homework and yet the teachers aren’t complaining. • Some changes at home have happened which could directly affect the child. For example, someone in the family has died or the parents are about to get divorced. Having the Right Conversation: The best form of a conference or any purposeful communication is when both the teacher and parents stay composed and try to work out a strategy to solve the problem regarding the child. Arguing and blaming anyone usually doesn’t solve an issue and the same common sense is applicable here. A Few Good Questions to Ask: • Is the child performing differently in different subjects and if yes, why? • How well does the child get along with the other children? • Which are the child\’s best and worst of subjects? • Does the child work to his true potential? • Does the child participate in class discussions? • Is the child prone to miss classes or skip school?

Summers are pleasing and everyone needs a break…may be a sun tan, a dip in the pool or a tropical treat. There is one good thing about summer, which is in fact more than a good thing – Vacations. Spending some of the best moments with the family leaves long lasting impressions on everyone. The average working day is too boring and lifeless – parents at the office, attending meetings, children at school and then study and homework – there are few moments to celebrate or cherish. Come vacations and we will be merrymaking, if that is what you felt or promised to the children and other members of the family then stick to your word. But, what are you going to do this vacation – roam around in the city from one shopping center to another with frequent pauses – long pauses – at the traffic lights and in the traffic jams. No, sir. Bad choice. Let it be a grand celebration this time, wait a minute; how much will be the bill! Before planning anything you must consider the impact on your purse and how far you can go. We don’t have anything against you if you are planning for Disney’s or Waterworld, but there are other ways of doing it. All pleasure, fun and excitement are not to be bought from credit cards only. A simple walk in the countryside can be more thrilling than a month’s journey. Now that depends on your taste and what your family likes. But when it comes to cutting the cost and being effective at the same time we may give you some valuable advice. Let us start from higher budgets. Extended family vacations are one way to enjoy and pamper everyone in the summers. There are many places you can go – a nearby hill station, beach resort (not with kids), a hotel at the seaside or travel to the nearby city. But then, you will have to pay for the resorts, hotels, restaurants, transportation and other interesting places you happen to visit. At hill stations, beautiful settings, pure oxygen and peaceful ambience are for free. To make your trip more fruitful and a learning experience to your children, just go for family camping. Camping has the greatest advantage that you don’t have the restriction of being stationed to one place or geographical point. It brings you close to the nature and at the same time reduces some burden on your purse. But be careful as some tour operators charge hefty amounts for family camping. Amusement parks, easiest to reach, always available and no planning required. All you need to do is get the list and leave for the day. You may plan it for a week for different parks and places. It is a family treat, and that is what is soothing in the summers.