Four Tips for Raising a Successful Student
This is the first post in a new series we are releasing named “Successful Student” series. Throughout this series, we will be exploring different tips, tricks, and tactics to help you develop a successful student. Here at Masterminds Early Learning, we believe that a successful student is one that strives to be their best self and has a thirst for knowledge. In this article, we will be exploring four tips for parents to help develop a successful student.
As a parent, you have a lot of responsibility. One of them is to ensure that your child is getting the best education and training possible. What you do as a parent has a huge impact on your child’s success. One of the responsibilities you have as a parent is to help your child develop good study habits. Raising a successful student takes time, patience, and hard work. But the payoff is well worth it—your child will be on the right track for college and will have a better chance of success in his or her future career. In this article is four tips to help you on your journey of raising a capable student.
Tip 1: Prioritize sleep and rest for your child
Proper sleep helps students learn best.
Importance of sleep for young students
According to an article on John Hopkins Medicine’s website, “Studies have shown that kids who regularly get an adequate amount of sleep have improved attention, behavior, learning, memory, and overall mental and physical health. Not getting enough sleep can lead to high blood pressure, obesity, and even depression.” 1
An article on Sleep Foundations website states similar facts, “Without enough sleep, children and teens can have problems with attention, memory, and problem-solving. Sleep deprivation can also contribute to emotional issues and behavior problems that may affect academic achievement. Making sleep a priority is important for parents who want their children to succeed in school. Understanding the causes and consequences of poor sleep and knowing how to address it can allow parents to help children and teens in their academic pursuits.”2
How much sleep does a young student need and how to help them reach that goal
According to the CDC, a 1-2 year old needs 11-14 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period including naps. A 3-5 year old needs 10-13 hours in a 24 hour period including naps.
Prioritizing getting to bed around the same time every night can help your child get the recommended amount of sleep. Creating a pre-bedtime routine can be extremely valuable as well. For my girls, we eat dinner, they take a bath or shower to help them relax, put on pajamas, brush teeth and hair, and sit down together with a book. We spend 5-10 minutes each night reading, counting, or doing sight words and then they go to bed. We do allow them to stay up an extra 30 minutes on Saturday nights, but every other night of the week, their bedtimes is about the same time. We started this evening routine when they were infants, but it isn’t too late to start building a routine no matter how old your child is. They will still benefit from it and will likely adapt to it quickly once you set it in place.
Tip 2: Prioritize proper nutrition for optimal development and focus
Before I stumbled into early childhood education, I was working as a registered dietitian. I spent many moons working with families and public schools to create a healthy environment for students at school as well as in their own home. The security and nourishment that 3 meals each day plus a couple of snacks can provide to a child cannot be underestimated. The power of fruits and veggies shouldn’t be underestimated either! When thinking about vitamins, minerals, fiber, and all the good things that fruits and veggies can provide a child- they are all invaluable in helping a child grow and develop properly. According to NoKidHungry.org, “Research confirms that hungry students are more likely to score lower on standardized tests, repeat a grade, be suspended from school, get sick more often and be hospitalized more frequently.” 4
Proper nutrition is vital for fueling children to learn.
Feeding but Undernourishing
If you’re thinking “my child isn’t hungry”, I pose the question to you “Is your child undernourished?”. Children may be consuming enough calories to grow while at the same time not be consuming enough nutrients. Including a variety of protein-rich foods, fruits and veggies, and whole grains will all help contribute to optimal vitamin and nutrient intake to help your child not only grow but also develop and maintain proper focus for learning. And just as sleep helps a child learn, nutrition helps a child sleep.
Tip 3: Provide your child with structure
Providing children with structure throughout the day can offer them a significant amount of comfort. When a child is comfortable in their environment, they are more willing and excited to explore it. When a child is exploring their environment, they begin to question it and try to understand the world around them. That is exactly the goal of Masterminds! That your child develops an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and understanding.
Structure can help children feel comfortable in a space and ready to learn.
Structure may look very different depending on the home. It might be a very structured morning routine with a family breakfast, at home learning, outdoor time, and a nap all before lunch. In another home it might be a flexible morning with a structured afternoon of lunch, learning time, free play, and a nap. And again still, it could be a structured later afternoon and evening. A home may provide one of these three structured times, two of the three, or all three. Offering a structured bedtime routine has been proven to help your child calm for sleep and get a better night’s sleep. And as we discussed earlier, a good night’s sleep can be powerfully beneficial in creating a well-focused and capable student.
Tip 4: Provide stimulation through a variety of activities
Offering a variety of activities allows children to master a variety of skills.
Providing a child with the same activity day after day may help them eventually master that one skill. However, the goal is that our children are adaptable and flexible to their environment. By providing your child with a variety of types of activities and forms of stimulation, you are preparing them for the variety of stimulation they will encounter throughout their life. They will learn to master many skills and those skills can then help them advance throughout their learning and working careers. The more tools a child has in their toolbox, the better equipped they are. The tools for their toolbox may include opportunities for arts and crafts, painting and coloring, reading while also being read to, and so on. By not always providing your child with the same activities during their ‘learning time’ each day, they learn in a variety of ways and learn a variety of skills.
Working to incorporate these four tips into your life with your little one will help them develop into focused adults who are better equipped to master the world. And mastering the world is one of the missions of Masterminds. That your child is a successful, self-actualized, and confident adult. You are raising a Mastermind!
Sources:
- Dawkins, Rachel. “The Importance of Sleep for Kids.” John Hopkins Medicine, 12 March 2018, https://www.hopkinsallchildrens.org/ACH-News/General-News/The-importance-of-sleep-for-kids#:~:text=Studies%20have%20shown%20that%20kids,pressure%2C%20obesity%20and%20even%20depression.
- Suni, Eric. “Improve Your Child’s School Performance with a Good Night’s Sleep.” Sleep Foundation, 29 April 2022, https://www.sleepfoundation.org/children-and-sleep/sleep-and-school-performance .
- “How Much Sleep Do I Need?” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 March 2017, https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/hohtml .
- “Learn How Hunger Affects Your School.” No Kid Hungry, http://bestpractices.nokidhungry.org/playbook/schools/learn-how-hunger#:~:text=Research%20confirms%20that%20hungry%20students,and%20be%20hospitalized%20more%20frequently.
