It’s almost time to load your kids back on the bus and send them to school again. By now, you’ve probably started collecting school supplies and replacing those outgrown jeans. You’ve located the lunchboxes and discussed what foods they’ll tolerate this year, and they’re starting to get excited about seeing their friends again.
What else should you be doing, though? What final lessons should you be imparting before the first day of school? What should you be planning to implement throughout the year?
Dozens of teachers turned to Reddit to share the lessons they wish parents were teaching their kids at home.
Read, Read, Read
One thing that educators almost universally agree on is that you should constantly expose your kids to books and written material. Read to them before they’re able to read on their own, and then keep reading to them, providing them with good books and giving them opportunities to enjoy literature.
It doesn’t have to be the same old stuffy classics you hated in school. Read the books that are fun, books that are funny, books that are engaging, and wonderful. One teacher said:
“Read. Just read. Read to them, make them read, talk about the stories. Ask and answer questions. I make this recommendation at every IEP meeting, every conference.”
Raise Good Losers
As parents, we love to see our kids win. We love to see them succeed. We love to see them do their best and be the best. Unfortunately, we may forget to teach them to take losing gracefully. Realistically, parents aren’t playing to win when we engage a four-year-old in a round of Candy Land, but before school time, kids need to experience not consistently winning and how to handle that feeling.
Several teachers recounted a situation in which students couldn’t emotionally regulate when they played a game in class and didn’t win. This also makes it infinitely harder for the teacher to present games in class if it involves handling a behavioral incident every time.
Rules Are For Everyone
On a related note, teachers are asking parents to teach kids that the rules do apply. They suggest doing this, too, with board games. It’s easy to let your preschooler take two turns in a row or move one extra space (especially when you’re so over the 75th round of the same toddler board game), but it’s actually not helpful.
Teachers also recommend cooperative games or team sports so that kids learn to help each other and engage in appropriate social interactions. This also gives another opportunity to congratulate others when they win or do well and gracefully accept both losses and wins.
Cook With Your Kids
Teachers at various grade levels offered multiple reasons that cooking with your kid will help him academically. Taking your child to the grocery store to buy ingredients is a bonus, which can provide practical experience in checking off items on a list, comparing prices and/or sizes, and picking out various foods. As for cooking, one teacher says:
“Take a break and have him help you bake some cookies…it is far easier to grasp fractions when baking. It’s something that is tangible to see. Oh this recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups milk.”
Cooking is helpful beyond math class, too. Another teacher adds:
“Students who learn how to cook as a pre-teen do significantly better in labs/hands on classes.”
Shoelace-Tying
This one hasn’t changed since our parents were in school. It’s easier for teachers if every child can tie his own laces or at least fasten his own shoes. If your child doesn’t have manual dexterity or is otherwise still unable to handle shoe-tying, it’s okay to go with Velcro.
Along with this is general dressing. Every year teachers wonder if this class will include a student who can’t fasten his pants and will call for help in the bathroom, and just how many they’ll have to help with coat zippers.
One more within this category: make sure your child can use the bathroom independently. Wiping is not on most teachers’ lists of favorite activities.
Limit Screen Time
There are times when kids can benefit from screens, but in the classroom, they must disengage from their smartphones and focus on the lesson. Unfortunately, some teachers find that their students don’t know how to function without a phone, and it’s frustrating for everyone.
Teachers offered different views on how much screen time kids should have and what kind of screens. One said no phones or tablets at all and minimal TV, while others just asked that kids have time away from screens. The consensus, though, is that it’s important for kids to be ready to turn them off for the school day.
Make Learning A Part Of Life
One thing teachers said, in many different ways, was to work on making regular activities a learning experience. Instead of making your child practice rote memorization of addition facts, help him implement the subject into grocery shopping.
One teacher said missing addends, such as (5 + __ = 9), can be tricky, but they are something adults use daily. One can practice them with shopping, cooking, blocks, and more. Others mentioned reading environmental texts, such as signs and instructions.
Other suggestions include using blocks, clay, and drawing to build fine motor skills and math and implementing a daily journal to make writing a pleasant experience.
Set Boundaries, Limits, & Rules — Then Enforce Them
Some teachers say they see a lot of highly permissive parenting and that kids suffer for it. They’d like parents to set clear boundaries and rules and ensure their kids follow them. One said:
“Don’t let me hear that your 12-year-old was up playing the game till 2 am last night when they’re failing all their classes.”
Kids can be amazed when rules at home are not enforced, and rule-breaking at school quickly results in loss of privileges or even time in in-school suspension, so just making sure they understand that rules will be enforced can be a huge help.
Sufficient Sleep
Sleep, incidentally, is necessary for a child to function at school. Kids can struggle with sleep for many reasons, and parents can’t fix all of them. However, it will benefit your child and his teacher if you try to get him into bed at a reasonable time and remove distractions to encourage sleep.
Some teachers say they have students “falling asleep in the middle of writing a sentence,” they wish parents would step in and help the child regulate his schedule. (Side note: if your kid continues to struggle with sleep after you’ve tried various strategies, you can talk to your pediatrician about options like melatonin and to rule out any physical causes.