Does your child get adequate sleep, or is he or she up playing video games and watching television? A lack of sleep interferes with cognition and emotion, preventing students from retaining and analyzing information accurately.
Peer Pressure
What is really going on in the life of your child? Are his or her friends good influences? Practice dialogue with your child on how to deal with peer pressure. Role-play situations dealing with smoking, drugs, dating, and bullying to teach your child appropriate ways to avoid peer pressure while still seeming cool.
Lack of Social Skills
Does your child have friends? Does he or she belong to any clubs or play any sports? Often never connecting with a school impacts how a student feels about going to school in general. Students need to create a place of belonging within school. Encourage your child to participate in activities to meet more students.
Low Self-Esteem
Once students believe they are bad at a subject, they will always be bad at that subject. To break the cycle, talk to your child about any negative, self-defeating thoughts and try to reprogram positive messages into his or her brain. Praise any new success by saying, You must be so proud of yourself! Students must discover inner pride for their accomplishments.
Lack of School Resources and Staff
With budget problems looming over every school, programs are being cut. What you may not realize is that many mandated programs are now understaffed. If your child has special needs, be sure those needs are being met. Most schools have gone to full-inclusion, and at the same time, there is a lack of special needs teachers across the country. So where does that leave your child?
Lack of Communication Within the School
Schools are busy places, and unfortunately, sometimes information gets jumbled year to year. Do not assume teachers receive information about your childs medical, family, and/or academic history. Inform teachers of any special circumstances yourself. Student confidentiality laws often prevent teachers from learning information about your child that you may actually want them to know.
Getting your child back on track may take some time, but success will come.
