Poor in Studies?

Although most parents dread to learn that their child is a bad student, many of them have to face it.

Is your child faring poorly in school? Although most parents dread to learn that their child is a bad student, many of them have to face this situation. Here's how to deal with it.

First of all, understand that your child's poor grades do are not an accurate indicator of his intelligence. Very sharp and intelligent children also can fare badly, while children of average intelligence can top the class if they are hard working and determined.

Don't compare one child with your other. Your child's performance will certainly not improve by doing so, and you will only be sowing the seeds for sibling rivalry that can last a lifetime. In addition, you will be lowering your child's self-esteem by doing so, making him believe that he is not as good as his sibling.

Which subjects does your child fare poorly in? Identify these subjects and make the effort to pay a visit to your child's teacher and find out ways to enhance your child's progress in the particular subject. Request the teacher to call on your child in class to answer questions. If he is called on often, chances are high that he will start paying more attention in class.

Often, a class project arouses a child's interest in a particular subject. The teacher should make sure that the project is on a topic which is included in the child's textbook portion. In this manner at least a portion of the portion will be taken care of!

Children also enjoy surfing the internet. Make use of the internet to arouse your child's interest in his studies by making him search for information relevant to his coursework. You will only be able to do this if you take an interest in your child's coursework and if you know what it includes. Although a lot of the information your child comes across would be outside his portion, it will no doubt help raise his interest level in the subject and will help him understand it better.

Tuitions are not the best way out, although they do help. Tina sends 9-year-old Raghav for History tuitions because she feels that at least in this manner Raghav sits down for an hour three times a week and studies history. Tina herself can never get him to do it! Younger children should preferably take tuitions only in those subjects they fare very poorly in.

Instead of spending all your time, money and effort into trying to raise your child's grades as high as possible, work at making sure your child passes, and instead identify an area in which your child has an interest or a talent. It could be anything from art to a sport. The worst thing you can do is to curtail your child's extra-curricular activity so that he pays more attention to his studies. The extra attention to his studies may mean a minimal improvement in grades, but you could be curtailing a very strong career option for your child.

Remember, if your sole concern right now is that you want your child to get into a good college, most colleges have sports quotas, which are for children who excel in a particular sport. If your child has competed at a national level in any sport, chances are that he can pretty much walk into the best of colleges in India at an undergraduate level. However, your dreams of your child becoming a doctor may have to take the back seat.