How To Develop Good Study Habits in Children

• Tweet
• Sharebar

• Tweet

Even if you’ve never done a single cartwheel your entire life, you are sure to tumble to and fro once your kid manifests signs of eagerness to do his homework and to study at home.   It is a well-known fact that children-and-homework is hardly a match made in heaven.  Kids would much rather beat their playmates at Wii or watch TV than do homework.  It wouldn’t really take a miracle to get your kids interested in studying at home.

Here are some things  you can do to help your kid develop good study habits:

Make your child a special “study corner”.  Designate an area in his bedroom where he has to sit down everyday, at a scheduled time, to do his homework or to study.  You can even take him with you to the furniture store as you pick out a study desk for him.  Once you’ve set it up the desk in his room, try to get good lighting to help reinforce the “studying mood”, so to speak.  Make sure he has all the supplies he may need at hand, Eg. pencils, rulers, coloring materials, etc.

Schedule the time when your kid must hit the books.  Stress the importance that he sticks to the schedule.  He may fiddle a bit with his Wii, or strum on his guitar for a few minutes before study time, but when homework time strikes, he has to honor study time.  It may help to get him an assignment notebook, one where he can jot down his homework or topics to review for the day.  Give him colorful pens, to make it more exciting.  You can even help bring out his creative side by encouraging him to decorate his assignment notebook however he likes.  Let him glue sticks or stones to it, if he wants.

Doing homework or studying for an exam need not be boring.  Try to relate his lessons to real life.  As a parent, you should know your kid well enough to know what makes him tick.  If, for example, your kid is a die-hard NBA fan, try to make a connection between Trigonometry tangents and Lebron James’ three-point shot.  If he’s  musically inclined, you can even try to set his lesson to song, and sing away.

You can never underestimate the power of positive reinforcement.  Anybody who’s praised for a job well done only gets motivated to work harder.  If your kid gets the right answer to a problem, give him a simple hi- five.  This seemingly mundane hand maneuver works wonders at boosting his self-esteem.

Developing good study habits in kids is definitely a worthwhile endeavor, as they will certainly reap the benefits later on in life.  We parents just have to constantly motivate our kids to keep at it.  If not us, nobody else will.