A parent’s role: Ensuring your child is ready to learn

If I stop teaching my child what am I supposed to do instead?

Recently I wrote that parents should stop teaching their children because they have a more important role to play in helping children learn. Before anyone accuses me of not understanding the importance of parental involvement in a child’s learning I want to describe one of the ways parents need to help children succeed.

One of the main ways that parents can help their child succeed in school, and in life, is to make sure that their child is ready to benefit from any education they may receive.

There used to be a term ‘reading readiness’ that teachers used to determine when a child was ready to learn to read. Until that child was ‘ready’ teachers were told that it was useless to try to teach the child to read because he or she did not have the skills they needed to be able to learn! Fortunately this term has been out of use for many years and teachers use different measures when they decide how, what and when to teach children how to read. Rather than waiting until a child is ready to learn teachers help children get ready to learn by adapting their teaching to the child’s level.

Although the term ‘reading readiness’ is no longer used (or shouldn’t be!) children still need to be ready to learn, ready to benefit from the skill of the teachers they will meet. I think one of the most important ways a parent can help their child is to make sure that they are ‘ready to learn’.

What does that mean? Well, depending on the age of your child it can mean one, or all, of the following:

* Ensuring that your child gets enough sleep so they are rested
* Making sure your child has a good breakfast so they have the energy they need to learn
* Talking to, and with, your child in ways that stimulate thinking
* Showing your child how to act in group
* Helping your child take responsibility for his own actions
* Reading with your child
* Helping your child make friends
* Setting expectations for their learning (parental expectations are the best measure of a child’s success!)
* Helping children make good choices about their educational career
* Giving good information about the implications of drugs and belonging to gangs
* Knowing what your child is learning in school so that you can offer support
* Knowing when your child is struggling to learn and making sure they get the help they need
* Keeping in communication with your child’s teachers so you can share information that might impact your child’s learning.

I hope that this list has given you some idea about how, without trying to ‘teach’ your child, you can support their learning. This is just an indication of how you can fulfill one of your major roles in helping your child reach his or her learning potential. My research indicated that parents have three incredibly important roles to play. Watch out for information on the other two in the days to come.