Ting-a-ling-a-ling!! School bell a ring and it’s back to school again!
With a new school year comes new experiences, new teachers and perhaps new classmates or even a new school. How do you ensure that your child transitions well?
The answer is wrapped up in preparation. But what does it mean to prepare your child for school? Of course, a big part of this involves stocking up on school supplies, textbooks and uniforms etc ahead of the new school term. But preparing kids of school goes well beyond this.
Racquel Vernon, a six-year education professional from the Alpha Primary School, cites labour for learning, planning and striking a balance as three key factors that help you truly prepare your child for school mentally and emotionally.
“Labour for learning before you grow old, for labour is better than silver and gold. Silver and gold will vanish away, but a good education will never decay.” Many of us would constantly repeat the words of this poem when we were young without giving much thought to its meaning – which is simply saying don’t give up on the opportunity to learn. Knowledge is power. So from home, parents should teach their children the value and importance of learning….the value of going to school and getting an education.
Once you’ve invested your money in acquiring books and school supplies, what next? Since we’ve been through the system, we know that learning and getting an education doesn’t happen overnight. It’s much more than having a beautiful bag packed with all the right school supplies. The process of planning and preparation is therefore continuous and is two-fold.
According to Ms. Vernon, parents should involve their child in the preparation process while they themselves should also get involved in their child’s school life. Yes, being on the PTA is important and teaches your child a whole other set of lessons and values, but it’s more than that. Parents should be involved with their child’s assignments, their curriculum content, help them with the work they need to do. Do systematic inventory checks of the tools needed and replenish them when needed. This should be supported with enforcing responsibility. Responsible children understand the value of resources and how to take care of these resources.
Failing to plan leads you down the obvious road of planning to fail. And it’s no secret that children who are prepared for school usually do better academically. So, in order to provide higher chances to excel, parents must plan with their children for and throughout the academic year. Identify with your children what the expectations are and how they will be met. Create the plan, follow the steps you would have laid out and make room for adjustments along the way. This is a sure fire way to avoid failure. These little big things end up playing a key role in how children learn overall and how they transition into the world as responsible adults.
To Read More: Purchase your copy of Volume 9 #4– September-October 2017