For your child, preschool is the first contact they have with the real world. The first time they will stay away from you for a longer period. This first time they will be in a different environment than what they are used to.
All of those are reasons why preschool can be challenging and daunting both for children and parents. However, there are things you can do to help your child overcome all challenges and empower their education journey right from the get-go. Let’s see all the tips that can help you.
Encourage cooperation
Most preschools, such as Insight Early Learning, encourage teamwork and collaboration. Children are encouraged to interact, listen, share, learn, and play with their peers. If you want to set your child up for success in preschool, you need to teach them to cooperate and collaborate with others early on.
Teaching them how to cooperate will help children understand the importance of teamwork, boost their empathy, and help them develop trust with others. Children who know how to cooperate have more positive social interactions and can make and keep friends.
So, to teach your children cooperation, help them understand what cooperation means, roleplay how to cooperate, plan activities where they will need to cooperate and praise them when they do.
Promote good study habits
Since preschool is only the beginning of your child’s education journey, it’s the perfect opportunity to teach them good study habits. These habits will later last them throughout their whole education journey. At preschools, children have a daily routine that helps them learn, play, nap, eat, and so on. You can do the same at home.
Start by creating structure and setting up a routine. The routine will give them a sense of comfort and it will teach them when it’s time to study. In addition to routine, you should also designate a study spot that will be free from any distractions. All this will help your child focus and concentrate on studying and it will help them get in the habit of studying.
Focus on the learning process rather than grades
Harvest your child’s natural tendency to be curious to help them understand the value of the learning process. Don’t make the same mistake many parents do and put an emphasis on the result over the effort. Do the opposite.
Encourage your children to think independently, and teach them that grades are short-term and that knowledge and learning processes are long-term and more important.
Grades are the product of their participation and effort. Teaching all of this to your children will help them in their further education and it will also make studying easier for them.
Don’t compare them with other children
The worst thing you can do as a parent is compare your child with their siblings, cousins, friends, and other children. Any sort of comparison with other children is very demoralizing, demotivating, and overall bad for their self-esteem. It can also cause unnecessary stress and anxiety.
On top of all that, it can create a feeling of resentment towards the child they are being compared to and towards you as well. All this can result in bad and unhealthy, relationships between siblings, cousins, and friends.
All children are different and that means that their skills and interests are also different. You need to recognize and accept this and then encourage your child to pursue things and hobbies that they are good at.
Additionally, try not to compare the pace at which your child learns to other children’s pace. Instead, pay attention to how your child learns best and encourage your child to improve.
Praise them often
Constantly criticizing and punishing your child will get you nowhere. What you should do is use positive reinforcement. If you want to empower your child’s education journey and set them up for success, you need to show them love and encourage them.
Love and encouragement are two important ingredients that build confidence and self-worth in children. And confident children are more likely to take risks and explore their interests.
Praise, unlike punishment, is more efficient in boosting positive feelings and increasing motivation. Praise and compliments can also inspire children to be more cooperative.
So, praise your children for all their efforts because this motivates them to try harder. And when praising and complimenting, make sure you’re genuine because children can sense when you’re not being honest.
Bottom Line
Of course, keep in mind that preschool is just the very first step in your child’s long education journey. However, all the above-mentioned tips can help set your child up for success and empower their early education.
So, don’t be afraid to teach your children the importance of cooperation, instill the importance of good study habits, and the importance of the learning process over grades. Also, remember that positive reinforcement is so much more efficient than criticism.