Parenting The Foundation For Learning

Writen by Mary Joyce

Much of a child's ability to learn comes from their motivation to learn and much of their motivation and effort they put into their learning is based on the value they put on learning and their ongoing education.

As a parent, you need to know that the value that your child associates with learning is strongly influenced by you and what you as their parent expect from them. Much research as determined that the expectations that parents have for their children is directly related to learning behavior and attitude both positively and negatively. All of this to say is that when parents expect their children to do well academically they do; and when parents expect failure the get failure. This is why it is extremely important that you as a parent set positive expectations and examples when it comes to learning and education.

Always be communicating to your child that you expect them to do well with their learning assignments and projects. Over time your child will understand that no matter what the assignment; they know what your expectations are and that you as a parent truly believe what you are saying about education and learning.

But it's not all about communicating your expectations; a big key for your child aspiring to work toward your expectations is encouragement from you. You not only must let your child know that you expect them to do well, but you also let them know that you know that they can do it. Let them know when they are engaged in a difficult assignment or subject that you know that it is difficult but that they can do it if they continue to try and stay with it! And when your child accomplishes… celebrate the successes.

Expectations fortified with constant encouragement and praise is a powerful force in learning for a child when it comes from their parents.

Be a role model for your child. It's much easier for you as a parent to get your child to buy in to your expectations when they see you adopt the same importance in learning as you espouse to them. In other words, make sure that your children see you partaking in learning activities around the house. One of the best examples that you can set for your child is reading. Make sure that your children always see you reading and keeping up with current events. Be sure to have plenty of reading material around the house. Make it a point to take your child to the library and get involved in reading programs with them.

Remember, expecting your child to do well with their studies is only the first step; you have to follow through though. Always encourage and praise as your child is working toward those expectations. If your child receives no feedback from you along the way, their motivation wanes and is sometimes lost. When your child succeeds… celebrate. And don't just celebrate when the final goal is reached; make sure all the little successes are recognized along the way. Soon your child will understand that even a large and foreboding looking learning task can be accomplished a little at a time.

And finally… be an educational and learning role model for your child. Be visible to your child around the house when you are reading, or even when you have to break out a set of instruction on how to put something together and learn something that you yourself don't yet know how to do.

The value of learning is definitely something that you can pass along to your child to help ensure their long term successes.

Mary Joyce is a former educator & homeschooler whose website homeschool-curriculum-4u.com offers resources and articles on homeschool curriculum, & more.