Sit with me!

The greatest contribution we can make to a child’s educational development as parents is to support them in their efforts to learn and acquire knowledge. A child will inevitably encounter obstacles as they sit down to understand concepts. They might get bored or distracted while doing their homework, preferring to daydream, sleep, watch TV,….the list is ever increasing.

Children will get very frustrated and even angry when coming across blocks to their understanding of a subject, topic or concept. They might not see the relevance of what they are learning to its practical application in the real world. They might find what they are learning boring and not be able to focus as a result.

This is were we can make a difference as parents and support our children so that they can achieve. It’s the greatest investment you will ever make as a parent, not of money, but of your time, attention and creativity. Parents are a child’s first teacher. They teach them how to communicate, how to go to the toilet, etc. Your job as teacher carries on throughout their time with you. as teenagers you are endeavouring to teach them to look after themselves. Perhaps keep their room tidy, shower more often!? How successful you are depends on how good a teacher you are. Do you motivate your children? Are you a good role model and practise what you preach? Does your child trust that you have their best interest at heart? Yes children have been cataloguing all this information since birth, and most are able to collate the information and derive answers quicker than it takes to click the submit button on the computers they are often inseparable from.

So, how can we develop our skills as parents and be better teachers for our children? It’s very simple and won’t take too much of your time! Be accessible to sit with them and clear up any problems that arise while they are doing their homework. A lot of parents might feel that they do not have the relevant understanding or knowledge to help their children. They do not want to undo any teaching that has taken place in class by the teacher.

That might be the case later on when your child is learning chemistry and the only ‘ion’ you know about is the one you use to iron their clothes for school. Nevertheless, the fact that you are interested and willing to work with them to investigate these new subjects shows your children that you are genuinely interested in their learning, so much so that you want to participate in it. You are enforcing that their learning is worthwhile and through your collaboration and partnership with them you can show them that learning and doing homework can be fun. You are teaching them communication skills, as they have to communicate what they have done at school and what they have to do for homework.

This is just like any scenario in a work situation where you are asked to produce something and you have to come up with a solution, either by yourself or as part of a team. Even while working on your own you will always have to work with people and be able to communicate. Even an artist is communicating to an audience.

You are teaching them discipline. Through a consistent approach to sitting down and doing their homework you are developing a work ethic from a young age and good habits that will serve them well throughout their life.

You are developing research skills when you both get onto google, or your search engine of choice, and start exploring for reliable sources to explain how the internet began, you can then share your experience of what life was like before the internet and throw in some interesting family stories that might relate to the subject. The more you can link their learning to the real world and the life that is familiar to them, the deeper and more meaningful their learning will be.

Take your children to the library as a follow up to this research and then together go through the process of looking up the same information in books. Explain that this is how all information was acquired before we had the internet. Throw in some library stories from your younger years. You’re now developing their interest in history. Keep making those links.

Before you know it you will have children who have a thirst for education and they will start acquiring it independently. Just like teaching them to ride a bike we need to help them balance at the beginning, and slowly but steadily take away this support to ensure their independence.

Our TimeZing products have are excellent resources that parents can use at home with their children. Play the TimeZing Card games, it’s a rummy game…played for centuries but adapted for times tables. As a child between the ages of 7 and 11, some of my happiest times were playing rummy with my family. This is what inspired me to come up with the TimeZing Card Game.

Check out all our other products, different ways of teaching, practising and testing times tables. They’re fun and colourful!! Go forth and learn through play!!