Helping your Child at Home
The best thing you can do to help your child in their learning is to model good reading.
Reading is so much more than the mechanical act of reading the words. Yes, it is phonics and decoding and working out what is says and means but the magical world that it opens up for children’s imaginations is the key to all learning.
You need to explore, talk about and discuss stories, books, facts and fiction so that children can experience all the different facets of the world they live in.
If you want to help your children learn show them how to be a good reader by reading with them, to them and for them. Engender the love of reading and you will open the door to their learning.
SUPPORT YOUR CHILD TO FLOURISH - DELIBERATE CREATION OF RELATIONAL HEALTH
Relational Health protects us. We can do simple things to improve the social interactions of our children, which in turn will improve their relational health and therefore have an impact on positive behaviour and reduce the risk of adversity.
- Wake your child up with a cuddle and a kiss every morning.
- Read out loud to your child a bedtime story, ask them to read to you.
- Tell your child you love them every day and teach them how to say it back to you.
- Take children to see other family members and have positive interactions with them away from phones & screens.
- Family meal times around the table with no phones or ipads.
- Take the TV out of your child’s room and if watching TV watch it together and interact with your child.
- Playing Xbox do it together for at least 15 – 30mins, restrict overall time to 2hrs a day.
- Go for family walks and bike rides. Exercise stimulates well-being.
- Throw a ball or a Frisbee with your child.
- Skip in the garden, play hop scotch.
- Sing out loud together and even dance.
- Encourage siblings to be kind and play together.
- Allow your children to share a bedroom.
- Make a den and play hid and seek.
- Play fight, ruff & tumble together.
- Collect leaves and make a picture or any Arts & Crafts.
- Celebrate small achievements for your child with a great big hug.
- Cook and Bake together.
- Go shopping together and allow them to pick items and pay at the checkout.
- Do daily chores in the house together and encourage the learning of this.
- Ask other family members & friends to speak to your child on a regular basis on what is going well for them.
- Help your child develop self-soothing such as reading a book before bed or writing a diary.
- Reward your child with small pleasurable things such as playing a family game or a family day out.
- Look at family photos together and reflect on good memories.
- Celebrate birthdays with creating good memories as a family not lavish gifts that take your children’s attention away from family time.
- Your children are amazing every day – don’t forget to tell them this every day.
- Make time to talk through problems before they get out of control.
- Demonstrate the behaviour you want to see from them.
- BE KIND – SHOW LOVE