Seeing your children find success later in life is one of the most fulfilling feelings as a parent. However, it goes without saying that raising children is no walk in the park. Aside from making sure that your kids feel safe, happy, and loved inside the home, you also have to ensure that they’re just as protected inside the classroom. At school, they have an opportunity to carve out their identity away from home. It’s also where they meet some of the most formative people, such as teachers and peers.
It’s totally normal for you to feel worried about your child’s education and life in school. In this post, we talk about three common concerns parents have about their child’s academic life and how to manage them.
Keeping Your Child Interested in Studying
Every parent knows the struggle of keeping their kids focused on finishing their homework or studying for an exam. Whether they have short attention spans or are just disinterested in the topic, encouraging your child to be more engaged with their studies can be tough. Most times, parents would respond to this disinterest by forcing their children to study or scold them until they give in. However, this might do more harm than good.
Instead, help them establish good study habits such as having a set routine to do school work and understanding which academic tasks to prioritize. To keep them interested in their topics at school, show them the real-life applications of what they’re studying. For example, if your kid is studying science and nature, take them outdoors where they can experience it outside of textbooks. Or, if they’re studying music, familiarize them with musicians and artists who can inspire them. These can keep them focused and constantly curious, and it ensures their learning isn’t contained in the classroom.
Making Sure Your Kid Has a Healthy Social Life in School
There’s nothing more heartbreaking than finding out that your child doesn’t have a great social life at school. Perhaps you see them spending weekends inside the house because no one asked them to hang out or notice that they don’t have peers to play with. However, developing and maintaining friendships in school ensures their social and emotional health. What’s more, social skills can even help set them up for better educational and career outcomes.
If your kid has a hard time socializing in school, you can step in by observing how they interact with others. Do they get anxious when in large groups? Or do they simply prefer to keep to themselves? By keeping an eye on your child, you can better figure out which social skills they need to develop and help them out. Maybe they just need to practice conversing or need exposure to more people. Just remember not to force them to do anything they don’t want to do, as this can damage your relationship with your child and affect their confidence.
Securing Your Child’s Academic Future
Even though your child may be years away from college, it’s never too early to start thinking about how to fund their education. University fees in Canada are relatively affordable, but housing costs, food, and other living expenses can easily pile up and make the prospect of college seem intimidating. Because of this, many parents worry about securing the finances to ensure that their kids get a quality education.
Thankfully, there are many ways to fund your child’s education and save for the future. Opening a Registered Education Savings Plan or an RESP is one of the best ways to save for your child’s education. An RESP is a tax-advantaged account that can be placed in various investment vehicles. When used on higher education-related expenses, whatever you gain from your RESP account won’t be subjected to income taxes. You can also choose to open a high-yield savings account to use as a piggy bank for your child’s education, as these can offer annual percentage yields of up to 0.50%. For this reason, it’s best to start saving early. The longer the account is kept open, the more your child’s education fund grows.
If you experience some of the concerns we’ve listed here, do know that being worried is normal for any parent. Instead, use it to motivate you to find ways for your kid to succeed. For more parenting advice and fun learning ideas to do with your kids, be sure to check our other posts.