Tips for Your Child's Success in School

 Success  or failure  at school starts at home. Some of the factors of  poor academic performance include:  lack of sleep, poor nutrition, non nonchalant attitude, and a lack of parental support.
For your Child to be Successful in life, Parent have a role to play

Enforce Healthy Habits

You can’t perform well when you don’t feel good. To help your child do  well in school, make sure she leave a healthy habits at home. Choose a bedtime that will give your child plenty of sleep, and provide a healthy breakfast each morning. Encourage exercise, and limit the amount of time she spends watching TV, playing computer games or  listening to music.

Stick to a Routine

Most kids will respond well to routines that help them organize their days. In our house, for example, my son gets dressed, makes his bed, and eats breakfast while I make his lunch and pack his school bag with completed homework and forms. When he gets home in the afternoon, I serve him a snack and he does his homework while I prepare dinner. Your routines may differ, but the key is to make it the same every day so your child knows what to expect.

 Good Environment

At school your child has a desk or table where he  she works. There is plenty of light, lots of supplies, and enough room to work. Why not provide her with the same type of environment for homework? A designated homework space often makes it easier and more fun for children to lean at home.

Read, Again and Again

It is often said that children spend the first several years learning to read, and the rest of the lives reading to learn. The written word is a gateway to all kinds of learning, and the more you read to your child, the better chance he or she becomes successful in life.

Take the Lead

Children learn by example. Let your kids “catch” you reading. Take time to learn a new skill and discuss the experience with them. Sit down and pay bills or do other “homework” while your kids do their schoolwork.
If you display a strong work ethic and continually seek out learning opportunities for yourself, your kids will begin to model that same behavior in their own lives. Remember Charity begins at home.

Talk Often

Do you know how your child feels about her classroom, her teacher, and her classmates? If not, ask her. Talk with her about what she likes and doesn’t like at school,what she know about her teacher, give her a chance to express her anxieties, excitements, or disappointments about each day, and continue to support and encourage her by praising her achievements and efforts.

Show Concern

Don’t limit your support to your child; extend it to her teachers as well. Meet the teachers and stay in regular contact by phone or e-mail so that you can discuss any concerns as they arise. Not only will it pave the way for you to ask questions, but it will also make the teachers more comfortable with calling you if they have concerns about your child.

Expect Success

Perhaps the most important way you can support your child’s efforts at school is to expect him to succeed. That doesn’t mean that you demand he or her to be the best student or the best 
 Rather, let them know that you expect the best” so that they’ll be proud of what they can accomplish.
If you make that expectation clear and provide a home environment that promotes learning, then your children will have a greater chance of becoming the best student they can be.

Favourtams

Role of Grandparents in the Upbringing of Children

In some cases, children have to be brought up in a joint family system. In such a system, grandparents also live with their children and then interfere with matters relating to their grandchildren. Parents often feel frustrated and very helpless because on one hand, they cannot say no to their own parents, and on the other hand, they want to control and discipline their children without having someone always coming to their rescue.
Grandparents bring some good things with them, however. They can tell stories of their early years, their marriage and how they brought up their children. These stories are full of advice and wisdom for the younger generation and everyone enjoys them. However, if this advice is brought up at the wrong time, it may have a negative effect on a child’s mind.

Some grandparents recognize the enormous responsibility of parenting and choose not to interfere with such matters. However, some grandparents like to put their nose into every matter and as a result make things worse. They should wait for the right time to give a piece of advice regarding the role of parents and their responsibilities. At the same time, they should not always come to the rescue of their grandchildren when they are being disciplined by their parents for their bad behavior.
To develop a healthy atmosphere and family set up, parents should also try to forgive the grandparents’ interference in their children’s upbringing. Somebody has to be reasonable and parents cannot expect the grandparents to be reasonable considering their age. Furthermore, grandparents also need love and care at that age and often they find this love in their grandchildren. Parents should not be too harsh on the grandparents.

At the same time, however, grandparents should try to avoid getting into arguments with the parents. This tense situation is ultimately not healthy for the children and they start thinking that it is their fault. Grandparents should understand that rules for bedtime, dinner and play are imposed for the betterment of the children and they have nothing to do with being extra strict or harsh. In the evenings, grandparents and children should be given a chance to spend time together.
Parenting demands patience and understanding not just the children but also the people who are living with them. Parents need to be more reasonable and try to avoid situations where there will be unnecessary arguments. Parents need to bring the children closer by confiding in them and trusting them even if they have to leave them alone with their grandparents.
In addition and at the same time, parents need to tell the grandparents gently that they should not needlessly pamper the grandchildren. Instead, they should watch their activities closely and report instances of bad behavior. Grandparents can be much more mature and responsible baby-sitters than other people because they are familiar with the family set up and know what is good for their grandchildren

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Sources; Healthy living for  Children

How to protect your children against abduction

t's a sad fact that thousands of children are reported missing each year. Know how to protect your children against abduction by strangers.

What YOU should do:

• Know your child's whereabouts at all times.
• At a very early age, teach your child their name, address and telephone number and your first and last name.
• Teach them how to call 9-1-1 for help. When using the telephone for these lessons, make sure the call to 9-1-1 doesn't actually connect.
• Make sure children know how to make local and long distance telephone calls.
• Never leave children alone in a car, not even for a few seconds.
• Establish strict procedures for picking up children at school, after movies, at friends' homes, etc.
• Establish a family code word that only you, your child and a trusted relative or friend knows. Teach your child to ask for the code word when approached by someone offering them a ride.
• Remind your children to never accept a ride from someone you don't know, even if the child knows them.
• Talk to your children about child abduction in a simple, non-threatening way.
• Listen to your child when he or she discusses anyone they have met or spoken with when you weren't around.
• Have photographs taken of your children at least four times a year (especially for preschoolers). Make note of birthmarks or other distinguishing features.
• Have your child fingerprinted and store the prints in a safe, easily accessible place in your home.

Teach your children to:

• never leave home without your permission. Very small children should play only in areas away from the street, such as a backyard, or in a play area supervised by a responsible adult.
• never wander off, to avoid lonely places, and to avoid shortcuts through alleys or deserted areas. They are safer walking or playing with friends.
• come straight home from school unless you have made other arrangements.
• never enter anyone's home without your approval.
• scream, run away and tell you or a trusted adult if anyone attempts to touch or grab them, of if a stranger offers them a ride.
• never give any information over the telephone including their name and address, or indicate they are alone.
• keep doors locked and admit only authorized people into the house.

Rules for baby-sitters:

• Leave a number where you, a neighbor or relative can be reached in the event of an emergency. In addition, if you have a cell phone, give the sitter that number and carry your phone with you while you're out. Make sure the battery is fully charged before you leave.
• Never allow the sitter to admit strangers into your home. The best rule: no company allowed.
• Instruct the sitter that phone use is for emergencies only, not for chatting with friends.
• Leave the number for your local law enforcement agency and tell the sitter to call immediately if there are any signs of suspicious activity or unusual noises