Globally, the 21st century child care demands have taken a paradigm shift. Presently in Nigeria, many parents are contending with keeping up with the learning needs of their children. This can be unconnected with the realities of the country’s economy where parents have to collectively contribute to the finances of the family.
While the economic quagmire is true, it is not enough for parents to neglect a critical aspect of parenting which involves having a direct input in the academic learning of their children. This article is intended to breakdown practical strategies that parents and even care-tutors can adopt in engaging their wards. These strategies are categorised into five broad areas:
- Understand what the child loves doing: It is never enough to provide the basic amenities for a child, it is highly important for a child to be understood vis-à-vis what the child loves to do. All humans, particularly children want to be understood. Learning becomes a lot easier when the child’s interest is considered during the learning activities.
- Avoid information overload: A common mistake many parents and even tutors make is in passing too many information to the child all in the name of learning something new. The rule of the thumb is to keep it simple and give the child the needed information per time. It definitely allows for proper assimilation and retention.
- Make learning fun: The need to make a child’s learning fun-filled can never be over emphasised. Making learning fun for the child transcends the provision of learning materials. It involves communicating to the child in a way that makes the learning process interesting.
- Repeat basic details: It is important for learning to be continual. This can be done informally when the child is doing things that have no direct relationship with academics.
- Reduce distraction: There is an increasing need to reduce distraction to the barest minimum when a child is learning. Keep items or devices that can affect the child’s concentration far away while the cause of learning is on-going.
Although, the above strategies are not exhaustive, however, they can be helpful in achieving an improvement in engaging meaningfully with the child.
