Four reasons why you are not giving your child the help they need.

OK – this comes from Seth Godin’s blog for entrepreneurs – but it struck me that it fits perfectly with parents who are trying to help children learn.

There are four things that are getting in the way of you giving your child the vital support he or she needs to be a successful student.

1.  You don’t know what to do

You might think that you know what to do, but are you sure?  Where do your ideas come from?  My guess is that you are trying to help your child the way you learned, the way you were taught.  Guess what? Times have changed.  What was appropriate when you were in school is probably not appropriate now.

Do you REALLY know what to do to help your child?  How are you going to find out?

2.  You don’t know how to do it

Even if you do know what to do chances are that you don’t know how to do it.  You are not a trained teacher, and even if you are, your relationship with your child changes the ways you can help him or her learn.  So what is your special role? How can YOU  help your child? What should you be doing and how should you be doing it?

No one is telling you these things. You are left to taking the advice from friends, the media, or the latest marketing campaign.  No wonder your child is not getting the learning opportunities he or she needs to succeed.  No one is telling you HOW to help your child.  Well, not until now.

3.  You don’t have the authority or the resources to do it

Wow, this is a BIG one.  So many parents give the responsibility – the authority- of their child’s educational success to teachers.  They just hand over their child’s futures to others, just like that!  They give away their authority, their ability, to help their children have a great future.  I think this happens because of #1 and #2 above.

Time to take back your power, time to take back your children, time to assume the responsibility you have to help your child succeed in school and in life.

What? You don’t know how to do this?  I know that you don’t.  I know how hard it can be to work with your child’s school, to have a say in how your child is taught.  That is why I am in business – to show you how to take back your power.

4.  You’re afraid

Yes, I know this is true too.  I have worked with intelligent, middle class parents who were too scared to tell their child’s teacher that their child was struggling with homework.  I have worked with parents whose child has told them never to come into their school.  I have worked with parents who were scared of doing the wrong things to help their child, afraid of letting the teacher know that they had a tutor for their child.

It is time to stop being afraid, it is time to take back your power, it is time to find out what to do and how to do it.

It is time!