The involvement of parents in their child’s emotional and cognitive development has long been established as an important aspect of a child’s development. However, most parents still don’t understand the impact that they can have on their child’s attitude towards learning – and restrict their efforts to the child’s learning routines in general. Most involved parents try to play an active role to ensure that their child learns, but what they miss out on is the fact that their contributions to general studying routines or the school curriculum is not enough for the child to acquire a positive approach towards learning.

Children at an early age have an absorbent mind that learns much more then what books have to offer, even though the knowledge they attain from books will always be important. However, the child’s perception about learning, either from books, learning tools or everyday life, is something a parent has great influence over. This is because children from the very start learn in the context of important relationships. They are influenced by what their parents, siblings or other care-givers do as part of their own daily routines, preferences and practices. They learn from the environment around them, and unlike school where they have to share the teacher’s attention, at home the child gets more personalised concern. This puts parents in a unique position to help their children develop learning and thinking skills and shape their perceptions towards these skills as well.

WHAT CAN YOU AS PARENTS DO?

1- Realize our impact
The most important thing a parent can do to foster a learning environment is realise the impact that their attitude can have on their children. Children develop thinking and reasoning skills when parents engage with them on different levels. If you seek out answers to problems and questions with your child, the probability of him/her hesitating less to ask those questions increases. However, the emphasis should be on the process of searching for an answer rather than the product, because the most important thing you can teach children, no matter what their age, is that their views and opinions are valued. It would be implausible to expect them to be confident about taking problem solving head-on, if they lack in basic self-esteem. Equipped with it however, they are more likely to feel capable and in control.

2- Provide personalised learning experiences
Every child's emotional, cognitive and physical development is unique and complex. Although children develop through a generally predictable sequence of steps and milestones, they may not proceed through these steps in the same way. At the same time, one cannot deny the fact that a child's development is greatly influenced by factors in his/her environment and the experiences s/he has. At school, even though they might be provided with some personalised attention, the environment is pretty much generic. That obviously leaves a lot of room for the parent to compensate where the school cannot. One of the most important things a parent can do is notice their child’s strengths and weaknesses and focus on methods from which he/she learns the most. Every child has their own preferences. Some learn faster from pictures and some retain more of what they hear. Some children prefer drawing over building blocks, while others still prefer storybooks or nursery rhymes. The key is to find out what interests them and help them explore it.