Role of a parent as a learning coach
When a new parent embarks on a journey of parenthood it is with lots of trepidation. A parent’s role as a coach is full of rigmaroles. How much is too much or too less, they never really know. A parent is always the role model for every child & is looked upon as a paragon of virtues.
A child’s eye follows the parents and emulates all the actions and mannerisms the parents do. It is a great responsibility on the parents and they must realize that they are under constant surveillance by their little one who looks up to them for social cues.
Connect with your child every day and take interest in what he learns on a daily basis. Make learning a part of your child’s everyday experience beyond the four walls of a school or kindergarten, especially when it comes to your child’s questions riddled with curiosity.
Be a constant guide to your child by answering all their questions and encouraging them to ask more. With that, you not only help ignite their minds but also become instrumental in showing them the correct path of learning. Give various modes like visual, tactile, and audio modes to gauge how your child responds to them. Your understanding of your child’s strengths would help them in the long run and encourage them to be a partner in your work.
Hands-on experience is best suited to not only strengthen the bond, but help to monitor and guide them from time to time. It is important to realize that healthy criticism helps a child in the long run, as a child needs to know that they cannot always be right. The criticism and saying “No” should be substantiated with reasoning.
A parent can give interesting responsibilities which are age-appropriate. He or she can introduce the child to various life lessons. The child should be made aware that they will be responsible for their successes and failures, they must know how engaging learning is, and that the motivations for learning should be their intrinsic interests, not an external reward.
Try not to over-schedule your child’s time, and be judicious about how much you let or urge your child to do. Kids need downtime as much as they may need to pursue extra-curricular activities.
A parent’s success depends on his understanding of their child’s likes and dislikes. If a child can happily and freely discuss his innermost feelings with a parent then it illustrates that the parent is successful as a good coach and buddy for the child.