As a parent, you want your child to be as successful as they can be. Consequently, you choose the best caregivers, schools, and other resources at your disposal. However, research shows that much of a child’s academic success actually stems from their life at home. This doesn’t mean that you must teach them to read or do arithmetic. But it does mean that the way you structure your life at home can influence your child’s academic success. By choosing family activities that encourage academic success through social, emotional, and cognitive growth, you offer your child an advantage in their later learning. Here are some easy activities to prioritize to give them that boost.
Play Games
Games use many different parts of the brain, and the wide variety of available games makes them a great family activity. Whether you choose to play hide and seek or sit down to a round of Uno, your child’s mind will be hard at work. Family games encourage children to strategize, think ahead, work as a team, recognize patterns, and so much more. Board games and card games are fun ways to teach letter, color, shape, and number recognition. Active games include listening skills and gross motor challenges. Whatever games you choose, be sure to also use them as opportunities to teach social skills like playing by the rules, being kind when you win, and facing discouragement when you lose. All of these abilities are essential to academic success as well.
Take Time to Answer Questions
Children are full of questions, and as busy parents, you may brush them off more often than not. Still, a child’s curiosity is an important part of their later ability to research topics they find interesting or important. When you take the time to engage with your child’s questions, you communicate that the questions are worth asking. Of course, you can’t always be available for your child’s thoughtful musings, so try designating a special “wondering time” when you can address their curiosity uninterrupted.
Read Together
As you probably know, the proven benefits of reading to your child number in the dozens. Even at a very young age, children begin processing and understanding language more quickly and accurately if caregivers frequently speak and read to them. Reading to your child causes you to slow down and improves the bond you share, and are activities that encourage academic success. It also creates opportunities to discuss difficult topics or situations in calm circumstances. In reference to academic performance, preschool children who are frequently read to show consistently higher linguistic abilities and test scores. Also, reading builds essential academic skills such as listening, concentration, logic, and imagination.
Try New Things
Much of academic success depends on non-academic skills like patience, self-control, and perseverance. While these character traits can certainly be taught, they are much more likely to be found in children who have seen them modeled. Therefore, you assist your child in their academic and other life successes when you make a point to try new things. Research shows that resilience and the ability to keep trying after failure is a major determining factor in successes of all types. By setting an example of how to respond when situations are difficult or disappointing, you teach your child not to fear or avoid new situations.
Your child’s academic success determines the opportunities they experience later in life. At the same time, the character traits that underlie academic achievement are even more important for your child’s long-term wellbeing. If you are looking for childcare in an environment that encourages perseverance, determination, and other essential traits, consider Legacy Academy Snellville. Call or visit today for more information.
