Helping Your Children To Be Successful Students
You are your own best coaching tool. Watch yourself closely when coaching your child reading, writing, and maths skills becomes difficult and you feel frustrated. The usual trap is to think that they are the one who is reluctant to coach with you, not paying enough attention, or not remembering the work fast enough. Blame… Continue reading Challenges and difficulties when working with your child are inevitable – how you respond is crucial.
I’m currently working with several young adults aged between 13 and 16. I call them young adults because they are growing up rapidly, and might want more independence, crave more privacy, and like to be shown a high level of respect. Families bring their young adult to me for different reasons. Usually they are concerned… Continue reading Your teen and you: Developing mutual respect.
Goals and agreements help keep your teen steady and strong when life is difficult. Study goals are most easily achieved by taking small steps most days, not by cramming in lots of information just before exams. At this stage of their life they experience rapid growth spurts and sudden surges of hormones. There are often… Continue reading Helping your teen study when they won’t: What to look out for.
It’s time to get serious and decide a win-win deal together. Take turns speaking and listening to each other. For negotiations to be successful create a situation where your teen will stay comfortable and alert enough to listen closely to you. The most important thing you can do is to keep any of your positive… Continue reading Your teen and you – No 4 – time to create a win-win deal
When you create a firm agreement with your teen about anything, including homework, curfews, chores, and polite behaviour, always pay attention to the small print. Take a little time and remember why you want to negotiate a particular new behaviour with your teen. When you are sure that change needs to happen - it will.… Continue reading Your teen and you: No 3 – Pay attention to the small print
Create a study agreement that both you and your teen are happy with. I have some further ideas to increase your chances of success when you negotiate with your teen, about anything really, but in this case the amount of study they are doing. I talk again about the importance of listening openly and without… Continue reading Your teen and you: No 2 – Creating a win-win study agreement.
If you want to develop a more adult relationship with your teen, the next few posts are particularly for you. Be brave and plan to rock the family boat now. There is no better time! While you hold most of the purse strings and are the senior adult in the house, you can still help… Continue reading Developing a respectful relationship with your teen
Stay respectful with your teen throughout the whole homework negotiation process, and never give up! Don't hurry homework negotiations. Even when feeling provoked, impatient, annoyed, attacked...stay respectful. If the atmosphere becomes tense between you both, slow down the negotiating process, but without intending it to stop. Believe that there is no hurry - that time… Continue reading Your teen and homework : Tips to respectfully negotiate with them
The power of respectful negotiation – it moves mountains… and teens. Negotiate homework with your teen - don't pressure and push them or bribe or reason. You probably already know this but I’ll say it anyway. Coercion won’t work with anyone in the long run. Your teen might do their homework, but they will be… Continue reading Helping your teen do homework: Negotiate with respect and firmness
Homework needs to be done! Homework helps your teen learn and remember. Getting your teen to sit down and actually concentrate on completing homework can be a challenge - and I encourage you to face that challenge with me over the next few weeks. Why should your teen do homework? Recent educational research shows that… Continue reading Why does your teen do homework? To learn and remember.
Families as Coaches 