“Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who said that it couldn’t be done.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Today, we are in the midst of a national crisis in education, and adults everywhere are worried that kids aren’t learning. With good reason.
Do you know how many children will finish out another year well below their optimal learning potential?
I continue to read about all of the obstacles to helping children learn during this crisis. I also continue to hear “experts in the field” reassuring parents that the gap in their child’s learning skills is to be expected and not to panic. All the while not offering any solutions to the problem.
Say it out loud. If it doesn’t make sense, then it doesn’t make sense. Since when should parents “not worry” if their child isn’t learning, growing, mastering basic academic skills?
This kind of rhetoric leads me to believe that those in charge do not think like Eleanor Roosevelt.
How Can Parents Support Childrens’ Education?
So, where are the Eleanors of Education right now?
I believe that they are the moms and dads who are raising kids and who have to want more for their kids than what is currently being offered. The ones who have trusted the system to do what is best for their child’s education and who are now realizing that it’s not working. They are the parents who know that something different needs to be done and will do whatever it takes to figure it out.
Kids Shouldn’t be Left to “Figure it Out on Their Own”
For most of us, the question isn’t, “should we be worried that our kids aren’t learning,” but, “I’m worried: what can I DO?”
Kids want to learn, and if the system isn’t going to teach them, they will find something that will. The scary truth is that we live in a world where kids know that they can find anything from baking the perfect cake to committing suicide with a touch of the keyboard. So, now what we are seeing is a population of young people trying to figure things out on their own.
Are Students Being Moved to the Next Grade Too Early?
In many instances: Yes.
Here is a fact: most students are moving onto the next grade before they master the basic academic skills.
Truth: There is something that parents can do right now to help.
What Parents Can Do to Promote Learning
Parents may feel powerless right now, but they are not. The one thing any parent can do – regardless of your own academic background, and regardless of whether you are a teacher or know anything about education – is improve their child’s cognitive skills.
Improve Your Child’s Cognitive Skills
Cognitive skills are what separate good learners from the not so good learners. Without developed cognitive skills, children fall behind because they can’t integrate new information as they learn it.
Have you ever reviewed a math problem and your child gives you the “deer in the headlights” look?
More than likely, that means that it is a problem that cannot be memorized and has to be conceptualized. That requires cognitive skills such as logic and reasoning.
As children get older, they develop an increased capacity to retain information, think critically, and focus. Cognitive skills enable children to see connections between ideas, understand cause and effect, and develop analytical thinking.
The Most Significant Cognitive Skills for a Child
Some of the most significant cognitive skills for a child are:
- Attention and response
- Language learning
- Memory
- Thinking
- Information processing
- Problem-solving
- Simple reasoning
- Understanding cause and effect
- Pattern recognition
A Final Encouragement to Parents in This Time of Worry That Kids Aren’t Learning
The disruptions were meant to be short-term. Most of us have struggled through virtual learning that didn’t engage our kids, sought extra resources to shore up major gaps in understanding, and thrown our hands up in the air when we see our kids falling behind.
It is frustrating. But it is not insurmountable.
I would urge you to get involved – get involved here (follow this blog), follow us on social media, find experts who can guide you. You may continue to be on the frontline of your child’s academic life for a while longer. And you can amass the skills needed to succeed there.
Download this FREE guide to learn simple tools and ways to build more vital cognitive skills that will give your child the foundation they need and the skills to learn fast and efficiently.