How To Help Your Child Succeed in School: A Parent Guide

Every parent is eager to raise an independent learner and, at the same time, to help their child succeed in school. For most parents, there’s a bit of a balancing act that goes into encouraging children to solve their own problems while also giving them the support they need.

The balancing begins as early as preschool. When a child is learning to write his or her name, you may draw dots on a piece of paper for them to trace, then fewer dots, progressing gradually to writing one letter on their own, then all of them. You are giving them guidance, but you can’t hold the pencil for them, or they will never be able to write it themselves.

That’s the challenge you’ll face as your children progress through their school years, and some parents find it more difficult to strike that balance as their children get older as the tasks and challenges get bigger.

In this guide, we offer suggestions on how to give your children the support they need and be their advocate through their school years while allowing them to learn from their mistakes and be an independent learner.

Developing Good Learning Habits

Even before children start kindergarten, parents can help them succeed in school by creating a schedule conducive to learning and instilling good learning habits in their children. Children thrive when kept on a schedule, and that includes regular bedtimes, wakeup times and mealtimes. For school-age children, having a set time to do homework, chores and any after-school activities, such as Kumon, sports or piano practice, is essential to helping kids learn to fit everything into the day.

Good sleep habits can help a child stay healthy and wake up rested and ready to learn every day. Children need time after dinner to wind down before bed. They should avoid caffeine and overstimulation. Video games and other digital devices that emit blue light are best enjoyed earlier in the day, as blue light stimulates the brain and suppresses production of melatonin, which helps people sleep.

An evening routine that includes a bath or shower before reading a bedtime story works for many families. A bath and book becomes a signal to kids that they need to slow down and prepare for bed.  If children are hungry, a light snack before bedtime is fine.

Getting an adequate amount of sleep is good for the mind and the body. Sleep helps children focus better in school and can help them retain information that they learned during the day. Sleep is necessary for a child’s healthy growth and is restorative for the body, allowing kids to fend off illness. Getting enough sleep has even been linked to helping kids fight or manage diabetes and ADHD. A good night’s sleep allows children to recharge before they start another busy day of learning.

How To Encourage Reading

There is very little you can do to support your child’s learning more than help them become strong readers. In kindergarten and throughout most of elementary school, children are very focused on learning to read. After they have become proficient readers, however, their attention turns to reading to learn other subjects. How is a student going to learn about history or science if they can’t read a textbook or article?

A good start toward raising a reader is to ingrain reading in their daily schedule. That starts long before children can read themselves with bedtime stories and reading books for fun every day. It also helps when children see their parents or older siblings reading for enjoyment, so they think of reading as something to be done for pleasure rather than a chore.

With young children, reading aloud together not only helps them learn that reading is fun but also to become more fluent readers. Listening to their parents read aloud teaches children to read at a proper pace accurately and expressively. It also allows the parent to listen and ask questions to help them improve reading comprehension.

As children grow and become more comfortable reading silently, you can continue to prompt them with questions to ensure they understand what they are reading. Ask, “What was the story about? How did it end? What do you think will happen next?”

To help children build their vocabulary, you may also want to encourage them to write down new words they come across in a journal.

Back-to-School Orientations

One way in which you can actively support your child in school is to make a point of attending school orientation days. Orientation gives you and your child an opportunity to meet the teacher, check out the classroom and get a glimpse into some of what students will learn during the year.

At orientation, you will most likely get a handful of forms to fill out and piles of handouts to read. However, take time to ask about things that could have an impact on your child having a successful start to the year: What’s the school dress code? What supplies will your child need on the first day? Where can you access the lunch menu? Can a child bring a peanut butter sandwich for lunch or is there a concern about nut allergies?

Likewise, you should let the teacher know whether your child has any health concerns or serious allergies so they are aware should the child have a problem.

Orientation also will provide a chance for you to learn everything from the child’s bus schedule to a teacher’s expectations and communication preferences. Especially for younger students, some teachers send home daily notes about homework or behavior, and some send notes weekly. Finding out when you should look for such communications will help you avoid unpleasant surprises, like a Sunday night “I forgot to do this project” situation.

Helping your child learn to manage a teacher’s expectations and stay on top of assignments starts in kindergarten, and it will serve them well throughout elementary school and into middle school, high school and college.

When To Express Concerns

As your child progresses through school, there will undoubtedly be bumps in the road. Listen carefully to what your child tells you about problems at school.

For example, a child may come home and say, “I got in trouble today, because my teacher doesn’t like me.” That kind of comment could stem from a number of issues, including that a child doesn’t understand the material and so did not do the homework; that a child was not listening to the teacher and was reprimanded; or that the child and the teacher are having a personality clash.

To determine the next steps, if any are required, you will need to home in on the root of the problem and address it. The child may need a tutor or additional help to understand difficult material. You may need to tell your child to pay attention in class. And in the case of a personality clash, you may need to seek help from a school counselor or the principal.

Again, it’s important to get to the root of the problem. Sometimes children feel the pressure of looming standardized testing, and they act out because they don’t know how to deal with it. If they are feeling test anxiety, you do not want to wait until the week of the test to find that out.

Act as swiftly as possible to resolve any issue that is having a negative impact on your child’s success in school. Do not let problems fester. If the problem was that a child was having difficulty with the material, for instance, and you hired a tutor or enrolled the child in an after-school enrichment program, a parent-teacher conference would be an ideal time to ask the teacher if they have seen any improvement.

If you feel that your child is struggling for any reason, you can and should request a parent-teacher conference be scheduled as soon as possible.

Be Your Child’s Advocate

To give your child the support they need, it’s important to let them know that you will always be their No. 1 advocate.

To be clear, advocating for your child does not mean doing their homework for them or blaming the teacher when something goes wrong. It means bringing up issues that the child may not be comfortable discussing with a teacher or administrator. It means asking the teacher to recommend a tutor when your child needs extra help.

Being an advocate does not require you to be at the school every day to watch your child. After all, most parents work outside the home and have other obligations that keep them out of the classroom. However, when you do visit the school – whether to volunteer for an event or eat lunch with your child – watch how your child interacts with other students and teachers. If they complain about a particular person or situation in their classroom, try to discern whether they are misreading something or if there is truly a problem. Don’t hesitate to bring up issues with the teacher if you witness them, although it’s best to avoid having that kind of conversation in front of the child or the class.

Supporting your child’s education is one of the most important jobs a parent will undertake. You can help your child develop healthy routines and good study habits, teach them to manage their teachers’ expectations and support them as they navigate challenging situations at school. Be a strong advocate for your child and provide the resources they need to succeed. Enroll them in an academic enrichment program to help them soar.