(1) Generalize - Don't Compartmentalize
One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a parent is separating home life and school learning. The best way to link the content that young children are receiving at school with your life at home is to incorporate emerging literacy and numeracy skills into your daily activities. Celebrate with early readers as they begin to decode street signs and menus. Play games where you count things - adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing are all things we do every day. Count bananas per bunch, line up your trail mix in rows, or divide a pack of Skittles into piles according to their colors. Baking incorporates measurement with executive functions, with tasty rewards at the end.
(2) Be Involved
The more you volunteer at your young child's school, the more you know about their curriculum content. Go on field trips, offer to talk to the class about something on which you are an expert, bake for the bake sale - be part of the school community. By modeling involvement, you are showing your child that being part of a wider group isn't just a school or kid thing. Being an active member of society is a lifelong skill that brings joy, complication, support and meaning to our lives. Involvement with groups can be frustrating at every age, but being part of a community is a core part of healthy living.
(3) Children as Teachers
What can your child teach you? Chances are, they will learn things that you never learned at school. Even if you know everything there is to know, let your child be an expert for a moment. When you have the opportunity to explain a concept to another person, you deepen your understanding of the concept itself. Listen to what they have to say, and affirm them by saying things like, "I can see you really understand that," or, "I can tell that you have been paying attention in class." By validating your children's effort you solidify their identity as a learner.
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