Why Is My Child Getting Bad Grades – Part 2
(Continued from Part 1)
Every parent wants their child to get good grades and succeed in school. So when your otherwise great child comes home with a bad report card, it can take you by complete surprise.
We frequently see eight particular trouble spots that negatively impact learning. The good news is we can help!
Eight Trouble Spots That Lead to Bad Grades – Continued
5. Unhealthy Lifestyle
When you feed the body, you feed the brain. Students who take care of their bodies have fewer cognitive issues and when a problem arises with their school work, they are better equipped to deal with it. Regular exercise helps stimulate the brain and keeps our bodies performing optimally.
It’s important that your child gets outside and gets active. The annual “Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card” states that only 7% of young Canadians are getting the recommended 60 minutes of exercise per day.
It’s also important that your child has a healthy connection with food. Making poor nutritional choices can be just as detrimental as not eating enough food. Make sure your child starts the day with a healthy breakfast and has healthy snacks between meals to keep energized throughout the day.
Establishing good sleep habits is a critical step to ensuring good grades, especially in the teen years when there’s a natural tendency to stay up later. An article in New Yorker Magazine called “Snooze or Lose” compiled various studies on the effects of sleep deprivation in children finding that the number of hours children sleep is directly linked to their academic performance.
6. Lacking Social Skills or Confidence
It’s difficult for children to achieve success in the classroom if they lack confidence in their abilities, or are too shy to ask the teacher questions.
Some kids are naturally more introverted but have no problem speaking up when they need to. For students who are very shy, the classroom becomes a place that they want to escape rather than a place of discovery.
This can eventually lead to social phobias, isolation, and depression. It’s important to encourage and praise a child’s active participation in class and to reinforce the notion that there are no silly questions.
When a child fails at something, parents and teachers should avoid undermining the child’s efforts. Instead, let your child know that everyone makes mistakes, and we can learn from those mistakes.
7. Feeling Unmotivated
Boredom at school is often the culprit of feeling unmotivated. It’s either too hard or too easy, the teacher isn’t lively, or they are genuinely uninterested in the topic. When those things are the cause, it can be hard to find the motivation that will drive kids to take an interest in school.
Likening other interests with what they’re learning in school can help. For example, if your child enjoys building things, you can relate it to math skills such as calculating depth, measurement or perception.
A lack of motivation can also be caused by a fear of failure. Some students become so wrapped up in the possibility of failing that they don’t even try to succeed. That can be caused by a previously bad grade and a profound feeling of disappointment.
This why it’s so important to praise the child’s efforts rather than their academic achievements. If they continue to put forth an effort, they will achieve greater success with your encouragement.
8. Exam Performance
Bad grades in high school can become present if a teen suffers exam anxiety. Even when they’ve studied hard and feel motivated to get good grades, some students just don’t do well on tests – when it comes to exam time, their mind freezes.
The solution starts well before test time. Help your child develop successful study habits as early on as possible. Rather than teaching how to memorize information, encourage active learning, which develops comprehension.
Active learning means questioning, summarizing and integrating the information in a way that’s easier for them to recall later.
That might mean making a visual diagram, reading the information out loud, acting it out, or rephrasing the information.
Have you noticed your child struggling with these problem areas? Oxford Learning can help – Contact Us Today!
Looking for trouble spots 1 through 4?
View Part 1
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