Helping Your Child Learn to Love (OK, Like) School

Here's what you need to do to get your child's school career off to the strongest possible start and to help keep him on solid ground academically in the years to come:

Model a love of learning. There's no better way to get your child hooked on learning than to show your child on a daily basis what great delight you take in learning new things.

Plant the seeds of discovery for your child. Make a point of having a variety of interesting books and magazines on hand so that your child can thumb through them whenever the urge strikes. If you make a point of borrowing books from the library, you'll always have something new sitting on the coffee table.

Make a point of asking questions about your child's hobbies and interests. Your child will get a huge kick out of being able to teach you things you didn't already know—a guaranteed way to get him hooked on learning.

Plan field trips to interesting attractions. If your child is studying trees as part of his science unit at school, you can help to bring the curriculum to life for him by organizing a family walk in the woods.

Let your child know that you value education. Talk about the payoffs—both material and nonmaterial—of doing well in school, and make a point of celebrating your child's various successes during his school career.

Speak positively about your own school experiences. If you had a tough time at school, you may want to keep this information to yourself for now. If it turns out that he ends up struggling, you can always share your own experiences then. Just make sure that the prevailing message is one of hope and inspiration: that you struggled, but in the end you managed to get through school, and he can, too.

Set the bar high (but not too high) for your child. Although it's important to have expectations that are sufficiently high to be motivating, you don't want to set the bar so high that your child is doomed to fail. No matter how high (or low) you choose to set the bar, you'll want to make a point of rewarding effort rather than performance.

Make sure your child understands that effort—not luck—plays a key role in academic success. Don't let your child get away with thinking that the schoolmate who got an A on his science project was just lucky. Chances are that A was the result of a lot of behind-the-scenes hard work.

Be the poster child for perseverance. Show your child how much you value perseverance by setting some long-term goals for yourself. Then talk with your child about the slow but steady progress you're making toward achieving that goal.

Teach your child how to problem solve and negotiate. If you make a point of thinking out loud when you're struggling with a real-life problem, your child will begin to figure out how people go about solving problems.

Encourage creative thinking, too. Children who are creative thinkers also tend to be good problem solvers—reason enough to encourage your child to think outside the box.

Set the stage for learning. Children respond well to structure and routine, even though they claim to hate it. They find it easier to learn when there are regular times for sleep, meals, play and homework.

Encourage your child to set goals for himself and to strive to achieve them. Although you may be tempted to set goals for your child, these goals won't mean much to him unless he buys in to the goal-setting process.

Keep tabs on your child's performance in school by going over his tests and school assignments with him on a regular basis. Being tuned in to how he's doing on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis will allow you to get a handle on your child's academic performance long before report card time rolls around.

Help your child to master important study skills. It's easy to forget that note taking, studying for tests and other academic tricks of the trade don't necessarily come easily—or intuitively—to every student.

Encourage your child to talk about his day at school. It doesn't matter if you discuss it at the end of the school day or whether you have this conversation at bedtime. What matters is that you let your child know you're interested in hearing all about what he learned in school, how his day went and anything else he would care to tell you.

Get involved with your child's school. Studies have shown a clear link between the degree of parental involvement with the child's school and the level of student achievement.