Tag: Homework pressure

Let me put it differently

My hobby is gardening. That is why the season of rain, greenery brings more joy to me. I love watching plants grow. I feel joyful when around lush greens. When  plants get best environmental conditions they grow and flourish well.

SAVE YOUR CHILD, BY STRETCHING HIS CHILDHOOD. A blog post by Roshni Shukla, Educator & Happy Parenting Coach on how small things can burden a child, if the activities are not age appropriate.

By profession, I am a preschool teacher, so I am always around lots of energy and positivity. I love watching toddlers grow and get ready for their formal schooling. Childhood is all about joy and happiness.

It is July, season of rain. Best time to plan, design, redesign, shift, your terrace, kitchen garden, balcony, front garden,back yard or any other place that you have. It is also best time for the Nursery owners and farmers to plan for upcoming season. It is July, also season for school admissions. Best time to plan admitting your 2-3 years old to his very first play school, shifting a 6 years old to a formal school, shifting a primary student to a middle school because you think the other school will do justice to your child, shifting a ninth grader to a school which provides better preparatory classes for tenth and higher studies, shifting your confused and still adjusting adolescent to coaching centres that produce a batch of adults with tired minds. It is also best time for parents to choose best subject for their eleventh grader, because, parents think their child is good at their choice of subject, and that very subject will decide the fate of your child. It is know fact, we, the parents know it all. We everytime know what is best for our child. We even know which are their choice of subjects.

Ok, let me not confuse you, with these long and complex sentences. Let’s just consider one part at a time.

Coming back to our gardeners, they put seeds first in green house, in seedling trays. They  make the environment suitable for these seedlings, so they could grow properly.

Similarly,  we admit our toddlers to a playschool or preprimary school setup. Yes, it is true that play schools and preprimary schools are places  which are designed keeping in mind the learning requirements to this age group. It provides separate setup, separate set of teachers, who are smiling, motherly and most importantly soft spoken. The curriculum also gives these schools the liberty to do things at a pace which is not too tiring for the child.  Just imagine if the gardener decides to put some of the seedlings in to the open garden area, within 15 days of their life. Nature is very kind, they will still grow. Gardener, might feel happy, that he has saved his time by shifting the seedlings early. But will this not put some stress to these seedlings? Gardener could have avoided that harsh Sun or heavy rains for few more days.

As parents, we have made plans for our child’s future, a timeline set for everything.

Some parents come to our school, trust us, follow the age criteria and admit their child accordingly.

Some parents come to us with better plans.

” Mam, my child is 2 and a half years old, but I know she is very active, so I request you to please admit her in a class higher than her age group.”

To this, we as teachers tell them, that it will just lead to alot of stress to your child. School will be a new place for her to adjust to. On top of that if she is admitted to a class where all the other children  are one year elder to her, she will have to adjust and cope up with that batch. A batch which is physically and mentally one year elder to her.

Some parents agree, and some don’t.

This lengthy writeup is addressed to all those who do not agree to our request. 

Trust me on this, at this early years of life, this difference in mental age counts.

Imagine this girl sitting in a class learning to hold a pencil in her grip, where everyone else has mastered the prewriting strokes. Oh! and this is not enough, she will be doing some extra effort at home to hold pencil and write, because, parents want her to catch-up with the class too.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE

Be the patient Gardener, give your child, his time to grow, than shift him to the next setup.

Don’t be the gardener who just wanted to shift his seedlings in hurry.

DON’T SAVE YOUR TIME, BY STRESSING A CHILD. 

SAVE YOUR CHILD, BY STRETCHING HIS CHILDHOOD.

I wish this message reaches every parent. If you support this philosophy of extending childhood years, please like, share, comment and follow.

What’s the point of homework?

Wondering how to help your children with homework — or how to get them to do it without a struggle? Here’s how.

Wondering how to help your children with homework — or how to get them to do it without a struggle? Here's how.

What’s the point of homework?

“Homework is designed to help students reinforce key concepts, process and solidify new information, provide time for extra practice of skills, and reflect on how much they’ve learned,” notes teacher Susan Becker, M.Ed. However, approaches to homework vary from district to district, school to school and teacher to teacher. Some schools don’t give children homework until the 2nd grade, others start in kindergarten. Some teachers create original homework, while other use or modify prepared work sheets.

Don’t do the homework for your child.

Most teachers use homework to find out what the child knows. They do not want parents doing their children’s homework but do want parents to make sure homework is completed and review any mistakes to see what can be learned from them.

Don’t take over your child’s projects.

Teachers do not want parents doing their kids’ projects. Instead, they want parents to support their kids’ learning and make sure they have what they need to accomplish a task. Check with your child’s teacher for his policy and review it with your child.

Set up a good space to work.

All children need the same thing: a clean, well-lit space. But keep in mind that each child may work differently; some will do their work at the kitchen table and others at their desks in their rooms.

Pay attention to your child’s rhythms and help him find the right time to begin his work.

Some children will work best by doing homework right after school; others need a longer break and must run around before tackling the work. Most will need a snack. If your child does after-school activities, set a homework time before or after the activity, or after dinner. Whatever routine you choose, help your child stick to it.

Find out how your child studies best.

“You should find the ways your child likes to study. For example, some kids will learn spelling words by writing them out, others by closing their eyes and picturing them and saying them aloud,” . “The sound environment is also important,” .”Some kids may want to listen to music, some are helped by being in the middle of noise, others need absolute quiet.” These are some of the advises by the experts.

Don’t hover — but stay close by.

Keep in mind that it’s their homework, not yours, but remain available in case you are needed. “The ideal set up would be for a parent to be reading nearby while the child is studying because then you both are doing your educational work together, but that’s not always possible,” says Michael Thompson, Ph.D. “A parent may be working out of the home, or need to be working in the home and cooking dinner. So if you are home, stay close, and if you are not there, have another adult check to make sure it’s going OK. And remember that all homework is not equal, so not everything will need your rapt attention.”

Limit media exposure.

Turn off the TV and the iPod when your child does homework. And the computer too, unless it’s being used for research. You might start by asking how much time he thinks he should spend on this, and negotiate from there. Remember, you have the final word. And keep in mind that if you watch TV when your child can’t, the plan may backfire.

Let the teacher know if you gave your child a lot of homework help.

“If your child needs extra help or truly doesn’t understand something, let the teacher know. Write on the assignment, ‘done with parental help,’ or write a separate note,” advises experts. If your child resists, explain that homework is used to practice what you know and to show the teacher what you need help learning more about — so it’s a parent’s job to let the teacher know.

Happy childhood is every child’s right.

All the best wishes to you on this amazing journey. This will surely give us an easy life.

If these tips help you in finding your answer, please comment. You can also comment, if you are having any other questions related to parenting. 

Make it precious not beautiful

(Tuesday morning)

“Rahul,when is your science project submission date. “
“Mumma, it’s next Monday, we still have a week to finish.”
” Rahul, ask your classmates today, what are they making.”
” Why, Mumma?”
“Because, your’s should be the best.”

(Thursday morning)
“Rahul, did anyone deposite their project?”
“Yes, some have done. When will we do our project?”
” Don’t worry, I am there.”

(Saturday evening, after school)
” Rahul, don’t go for playing today, we have to do our project.”

(Sunday)
“Rahul, no playing, we have to decorate our project, it should look the best.”

(Monday, in school)
Teacher: ” Congratulations everyone, for finishing your project works on time. Please come and explain about your project.” Indeed Rahul’s project was well designed and presented.

 But was it needed?Now let’s look at the unseen part of it.

Tuesday 2:00 pm, Sarita, Rahul’s mom, had finished all her work, googled all the possible topics for son’s project. She made a list of all the projects, which they can do.
Wednesday, Sarita, called some of her friends and relatives to enquire for the best topic to make the project. She then, struck off the common topics from her list.
Thursday 2:00 pm, she deleted the topics that were done by Rahul’s classmates.
Friday she collected all the requirements.
Saturday 2:00 pm, she arranged every thing to one place.Night, Sarita sat with Rahul, after finishing her daily chores. Rahul was sleepy by 11:00 pm so Sarita finished some portions, just to help Rahul.Sunday, They sat again, this time they had to hurry up. Sarita helped him, by finishing most of his work. Rahul’s work was not very neat, so Sarita did the finishing tough to the project.They finished it on time.Monday, Rahul was feeling proud as he was praised by one and all. 

Such a happy ending to the story of making a science project.

But, was it worth? Was it solving the purpose? Was it by anyway helpful to the child? 
You all might not like it, but the answer is 

NO. A big NO

Was Sarita student of that class? The answer is again NO.
You can replace mother in this story with father or any other elder. As long as the effort is done by anyone other than the person, it is meant to be, the effort is useless.
I am not saying a child of any age can do their work all by their own.
I am just saying, 

BE THE GUIDE, DON’T BE ASSISTANT.

Help him by questions like,

 what do you think should be our topic?

From where can we get the informative material?

Will you just collect some information, then, we will together discuss on the best doable topic.

Can you collect the required material, that we have at home, make a list of things we need to buy or arrange. 

And many thought provoking questions like this. 
Let it be your child’s project. 
  

And most importantly, it is not required that it appears best, it should solve it’s purpose the most.

Haha, as a mother, I know, it is tough to control ourselves from taking over the task, but have patience, it is possible.

And believe me, as a teacher, I can assure you, their teacher will like it more, when it is done by your child and not you.

Please make every small experience, a precious learning for life. 

P.s. By making a project by his own, our child is taking small steps towards learning to handle his life.
If you agree to this thought, please like, comment, share and follow. And also comment if you disagree at any point.

Make precious life lessons

Let’s learn some precious life lessons from the project Rahul got at his school.

(Tuesday morning)

“Rahul,when is your science project submission date. “
“Mumma, it’s next Monday, we still have a week to finish.”
” Rahul, ask your classmates today, what are they making.”
” Why, Mumma?”
“Because, your’s should be the best.”

(Thursday morning)


“Rahul, did anyone deposite their project?”
“Yes, some have done. When will we do our project?”
” Don’t worry, I am there.”

(Saturday evening, after school)


” Rahul, don’t go for playing today, we have to do our project.”

(Sunday)


“Rahul, no playing, we have to decorate our project, it should look the best.”

(Monday, in school)


Teacher: ” Congratulations everyone, for finishing your project works on time. Please come and explain about your project.” Indeed Rahul’s project was well designed and presented.

 But was it needed?Now let’s look at the unseen part of it, to learn our precious life lessons.

Tuesday 2:00 pm, Sarita, Rahul’s mom, had finished all her work, googled all the possible topics for son’s project. She made a list of all the projects, which they can do.
Wednesday, she called some of her friends and relatives to enquire for the best topic to make the project. Then, struck off the common topics from her list.
Thursday 2:00 pm, she deleted the topics that were done by Rahul’s classmates.
Friday she collected all the requirements.
Saturday 2:00 pm, she arranged every thing to one place.Night, Sarita sat with Rahul, after finishing her daily chores. Rahul was sleepy by 11:00 pm so Sarita finished some portions, just to help Rahul.Sunday, They sat again, this time they had to hurry up. Sarita helped him, by finishing most of his work. Rahul’s work was not very neat, so Sarita did the finishing tough to the project.They finished it on time.Monday, Rahul was feeling proud as he was praised by one and all. 

Such a happy ending to the story of making a science project.

But, was it worth? Was it solving the purpose of project work? Was it by anyway helpful to the child? 


You all might not like it, but the answer is NO. A big NO. Was Sarita student of that class? The answer is again NO.

NO. A big NO

Precious life lessons


You can replace mother in this story with father or any other elder. Parent’s mindset puts so much pressure on the learning of the child. It is not Happy parenting. By helping child in work, school projects we are not giving them precious life lessons or stress free childhood. If they do not learn their life lessons, they will not be able to cope up with the ups and downs in life. As long as the effort is done by anyone other than the person it to was meant be, the effort is useless.
It’s not that a child of any age can do their work all alone.
I am just saying, 

BE THE GUIDE, DON’T BE ASSISTANT.

Help him by questions like,

  •  what do you think should be our topic?
  • From where can we get the informative material?
  • Will you just collect some information, then, we will together discuss on the best doable topic.
  • Can you collect the required material, that we have at home, make a list of things we need to buy or arrange. 

And many thought provoking questions like this. 
Let it be your child’s project. 
  

And most importantly, it is not required that it appears best, it should solve it’s purpose the most.

Haha, as a mother, I know, it is tough to control ourselves from taking over the task, but have patience, it is possible.

And believe me, as a teacher, I can assure you, their teacher will like it more, when it is done by your child and not you.

Please make every small experience, a precious learning for life. 

P.s. By making a project by his own, our child is taking small steps towards learning to handle his life.
If you agree to this thought, please like, comment, share and follow. And also comment if you disagree at any point.

We Parents make all efforts to give our child a Happy childhood. While do so, at times we overdo. Please read, To know how you can save a preschooler from stress of learning.

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Roshni Shukla, happyheartforever.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Let me put it differently

My hobby is gardening. That is why the season of rain, greenery brings more joy to me. I love watching plants grow. I feel joyful when around lush greens. When  plants get best environmental conditions they grow and flourish well.

SAVE YOUR CHILD, BY STRETCHING HIS CHILDHOOD. A blog post by Roshni Shukla, Educator & Happy Parenting Coach on how small things can burden a child, if the activities are not age appropriate.

By profession, I am a preschool teacher, so I am always around lots of energy and positivity. I love watching toddlers grow and get ready for their formal schooling. Childhood is all about joy and happiness.

It is July, season of rain. Best time to plan, design, redesign, shift, your terrace, kitchen garden, balcony, front garden,back yard or any other place that you have. It is also best time for the Nursery owners and farmers to plan for upcoming season. It is July, also season for school admissions. Best time to plan admitting your 2-3 years old to his very first play school, shifting a 6 years old to a formal school, shifting a primary student to a middle school because you think the other school will do justice to your child, shifting a ninth grader to a school which provides better preparatory classes for tenth and higher studies, shifting your confused and still adjusting adolescent to coaching centres that produce a batch of adults with tired minds. It is also best time for parents to choose best subject for their eleventh grader, because, parents think their child is good at their choice of subject, and that very subject will decide the fate of your child. It is know fact, we, the parents know it all. We everytime know what is best for our child. We even know which are their choice of subjects.

Ok, let me not confuse you, with these long and complex sentences. Let’s just consider one part at a time.

Coming back to our gardeners, they put seeds first in green house, in seedling trays. They  make the environment suitable for these seedlings, so they could grow properly.

Similarly,  we admit our toddlers to a playschool or preprimary school setup. Yes, it is true that play schools and preprimary schools are places  which are designed keeping in mind the learning requirements to this age group. It provides separate setup, separate set of teachers, who are smiling, motherly and most importantly soft spoken. The curriculum also gives these schools the liberty to do things at a pace which is not too tiring for the child.  Just imagine if the gardener decides to put some of the seedlings in to the open garden area, within 15 days of their life. Nature is very kind, they will still grow. Gardener, might feel happy, that he has saved his time by shifting the seedlings early. But will this not put some stress to these seedlings? Gardener could have avoided that harsh Sun or heavy rains for few more days.

As parents, we have made plans for our child’s future, a timeline set for everything.

Some parents come to our school, trust us, follow the age criteria and admit their child accordingly.

Some parents come to us with better plans.

” Mam, my child is 2 and a half years old, but I know she is very active, so I request you to please admit her in a class higher than her age group.”

To this, we as teachers tell them, that it will just lead to alot of stress to your child. School will be a new place for her to adjust to. On top of that if she is admitted to a class where all the other children  are one year elder to her, she will have to adjust and cope up with that batch. A batch which is physically and mentally one year elder to her.

Some parents agree, and some don’t.

This lengthy writeup is addressed to all those who do not agree to our request. 

Trust me on this, at this early years of life, this difference in mental age counts.

Imagine this girl sitting in a class learning to hold a pencil in her grip, where everyone else has mastered the prewriting strokes. Oh! and this is not enough, she will be doing some extra effort at home to hold pencil and write, because, parents want her to catch-up with the class too.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE

Be the patient Gardener, give your child, his time to grow, than shift him to the next setup.

Don’t be the gardener who just wanted to shift his seedlings in hurry.

DON’T SAVE YOUR TIME, BY STRESSING A CHILD. 

SAVE YOUR CHILD, BY STRETCHING HIS CHILDHOOD.

I wish this message reaches every parent. If you support this philosophy of extending childhood years, please like, share, comment and follow.

Happy Childhood, let me put it differently

My hobby is gardening, and it reminds me of my Happy childhood. That is why the season of rain, greenery brings more joy to me. I love watching plants grow. I feel joyful when around lush greens. When  plants get best environmental conditions they grow and flourish well. By profession, I am a preschool teacher, so I am always around lots of energy and positivity. I enjoy their cute questions, observations, their unique understanding of the world around them. They smile back, if they get one as greetings. I love watching toddlers grow and get ready for their formal schooling. Happy childhood is all about joy and happiness.

Happy childhood is every child's right.

Let’s give them a Happy childhood

It is July, season of rain. Best time to plan, design, redesign, shift, your terrace, kitchen garden, balcony, front garden,back yard or any other place that you have.

It also best time for the Nursery owners and farmers to plan for upcoming season.

It is July, also season for School admissions. Best time to plan admitting your 2-3 years old to his very first play school, shifting a 6 years old to a formal school, shifting a primary student to a middle school because you think the other school will do justice to your child, shifting a ninth grader to a school which provides better preparatory classes for tenth and higher studies, shifting your confused and still adjusting adolescent to coaching centres that produce a batch of adults with tired minds.

It is also best time for parents to choose best subject for their eleventh grader, because, in present parenting style, parents think their child is good at their choice of subject, and that very subject will decide the fate of your child.

It is know fact, we, the parents know it all. We everytime know what is best for our child. We even know which are their choice of subjects. And we think it is part of giving them a Happy childhood

Ok, let me not confuse you, with these long and complex sentences. Let’s just consider one part at a time.

Coming back to our gardeners, they put seeds first in green house, in seedling trays. They  make the environment suitable for these seedlings, so they could grow properly.

Similarly,  we admit our toddlers to homeschooling, a playschool or priprimary school setup. Yes, it is true that play schools, Preschool and Preprimary schools are places  which are designed keeping in mind the learning requirements to this age group. It provides separate setup, separate set of teachers, who are smiling, motherly and most importantly soft spoken. The curriculum also gives these schools the liberty to do things at a pace which is not too tiring for the child.

  Just imagine if the gardener decides to put some of the seedlings in to the open garden area, within 15 days of their life. Nature is very kind, they will still grow. Gardener, might feel happy, that he has saved his time by shifting the seedlings early. But will this not put some stress to these seedlings? Gardener could have avoided that harsh Sun or heavy rains for few more days.

As parents, we have made plans for our child’s future, a timeline set for everything in their Happy childhood.

Some parents come to our Kindergarten school, trust us, follow the age criteria and admit their child accordingly.

Some parents come to us with better plans.

” Mam, my child is 2 and a half years old, but I know she is very active, so I request you to please admit her in a class higher than her age group.”

To this, we as teachers tell them, that it will just lead to alot of stress to your child. School will be a new place for her to adjust to. On top of that if she is admitted to a class where all the other children  are one year elder to her, she will have to adjust and cope up with that batch. A batch which is physically and mentally one year elder to her.

Some parents agree to teachers point of view and some don’t.

This lengthy writeup is addressed to all those who do not agree to our request. 

Trust me on this, at this early years of life, this difference in mental age counts.

Imagine, at this prewriting age first day of school, girl is sitting in a class learning to hold a pencil in her grip, where everyone else has mastered the prewriting strokes.

She still has to develope her fine motorskills and hand-eye coordination.

Oh! this is not enough, she will be doing some extra effort at home to hold pencil and learning to write, because, parents want her to catch-up with the class too.

Homework pressure, and peer pressure at this age is too much to handle for a child.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE

Be the patient Gardener, give your child, his time to grow.

Don’t be the gardener who just wanted to shift his seedlings in hurry.

DON’T SAVE YOUR TIME, BY STRESSING A CHILD. 

SAVE YOUR CHILD, BY STRETCHING HIS CHILDHOOD.

I wish this message of positive schooling and Stress-free childhood reaches every parent. Every one deserves a stress-free happy childhood. If you support this philosophy of extending childhood years, please like, share, comment and follow.

We think we are doing it right. And the same situations comes many times. We unknowingly become hindrance to the growth of our child. And he has to face a lot of peer pressure. It repeats in school during the classes and at home. Children get homework, assignments, project work and many more activities for which student needs some guidance from parents. Let’s make their project solve the purpose, for what it was meant. Many times we as parents don’t do the way it should be done. To know common mistake that we do get for project work , please follow link: https://happyheartforeverhome.wpcomstaging.com/2019/07/14/make-it-precious-not-beautiful/

Happy childhood is the best gift.

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Roshni Shukla, http://www.happyheartforever.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.