Five Ways to Boost Your Child’s Study Habits

Diana Clarl - 14 Aug 18

• Do you have something to study today?

• No… I didn’t get any homework.

Be honest with me here: how many times have you got the same response to the same question? Speaking for myself: too many!

At first, I blamed the teacher. This was the time when that outrageous Rotten Apples article appeared in Time Magazine, so I was convinced that my son’s teacher was one of those rotten apples.

But then I reflected on my own time at school. That made me realize: bad teachers are an extremely rare kind. Even if the teacher is bad, I had the textbooks and all other materials I needed so I could still learn. It was my responsibility to do it.

So after buying an essay from ProEssayWriting because my sun couldn’t write it, I decided it would be the last time I had allowed the easy way out. It was time for change.

And I found few methods that worked.

1. First, We Have to Make an Attitude Adjustment

• Look… homework and studying are things just like brushing your teeth, eating, or drinking water. It’s something you gotta do, but it’s also something that does you well. So you may either do this with a grumpy attitude, or you may enjoy while doing it. It’s your choice

This was the first step: I gave him no choice about studying. I gave him a choice on his attitude. I explained that if he did the homework and reading right after school, it would take only an hour and he’d have the rest of the day off.

2. Study Smarter Instead of Harder

I didn’t impose too much studying time on my kid. We started with half an hour per day and made progress to an hour. That was more than enough for him to do much better. I did not want my kid to binge for hours before a test. I wanted him to take it easy, building knowledge day after day. I also didn’t need my kid to study for hours every single day. Maybe some parents encourage such efforts. No hard feelings here; it’s just not my way of doing things.

So instead of pushing my son to study more in terms of time, I encouraged him to study more in terms of efficiency.

No stress, no testing after sessions. Just a quiet and consistent environment; reading and doing homework. I encouraged him to take notes he could refer to, and that helped a lot with remembering information.

3. Schedules Matter

When you turn something into a habit, you stop seeing it as a burden. It’s just something you do. A schedule certainly helps with that. I encouraged my son to study every day at the same time – as soon as he got back from school, got his meal and took a small rest.

It was hard at first, but he stopped pushing back after a month or so. He got his schedule with precise goals, and he got motivated to work. So I highly recommend this approach. It’s the only way to turn something into a habit.

4. There’s Something Called the Growth Mindset. It Works!

• I can’t write an essay, Mom! I just can’t! I hate it! I try and I’m no good!

So I ordered that essay. I failed to support my child and convince him that the effort, not the grade, was what mattered. I felt guilty about this and I was searching for a solution.

The solution came from Carol Dweck, psychologist and author of the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. As it turns out, my son was in the fixed mindset. He assumed that if he wasn’t good at something, there was no way for him to improve. The growth mindset, on the other hand, is based on attempts. With every attempt, you get better and you understand the value of progress.

So instead of supporting easy solutions, I started supporting attempts.

• Why don’t you just try? I’ll help. We’ll look at online tutorials together and you’ll write that essay. No matter what comes out, it’s still yours and it’s good. It will be better than last time. Next time you’ll do even better. You’ll see that you’ll start getting better as long as you try.

That’s the right kind of support that every child needs. Parents have to stop caring about the grades. We have to start appreciating the progress instead.

5. The Kid Needs Self-Confidence

The kid should never feel scared to ask something or ashamed if he doesn’t know something. As I kept praising his efforts, my son started gaining better self-confidence. He realized that he couldn’t know absolutely everything and there was no shame in that. He realized that effort paid off, and he started believing in himself more.

That was the one major difference that mattered.

I’m a firm believer that all kids should learn more. I’m sorry I didn’t study more when I had the opportunity and I had free education to count on. My son has that opportunity now and I’m doing my best to explain how important it is. I’ve seen great results after we started implementing the five methods above. Hopefully, that list helps you find solutions, too.

Diana Clarl

Diana Clark once gave up her educator career for something she always dreamed about – writing. Diana is a freelance writer at A-writer. She discovers the world of digital nomads and believes that some day people will become location independent. Feel free to follow Diana on Twitter.

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