Blog Post: Helping Children With School
Going to middle school is one of the, if not the, biggest academic changes that children face during middle childhood. Middle school often brings new friendships, responsibilities, and more independence. Parental support is really important to the success of children during this new stage of life. There are many ways that parents can help children succeed and stay on track for academic success. One way that parents can help their child succeed is by attending back-to-school night/ orientation and by attending parent-teacher conferences throughout the school year (Hoffses, 2018). By doing these, parents are able to get to know their child’s teachers and their expectations as well as getting to know more about their child’s academic progress. Parents can also help their child be ready to learn by giving them a nutritious breakfast and making sure that their child gets the right amount of sleep. This can help them with attention, memory, and alertness (Hoffses, 2018). Parents can also help their children succeed by instilling organizational skills, which can be done by showing their children how to prioritize tasks and manage time in a to-do list or calendar, teaching their children study skills, and by supporting homework expectations, which can be done by limiting distractions and being encouraging. It is also important that parents also prioritize school (Hoffses, 2018). This helps support children and their work ethic. Parents should know the disciplinary and bullying policies, get involved in their child’s school (if possible), take attendance seriously, and make time to talk with their child about school (Hoffses, 2018). By doing all of this, parents can help their child with having a smooth transition into middle school as well as create good habits that the child will have throughout their life.
Powerpoint (Google Slides): Developmental Milestones in Middle Childhood
Google Slides: Developmental Milestones
Blog Post: Cultural Differences and Family Structure
Children have different upbringings depending on their culture. In some cultures, children as early as the age of 5 are “assigned roles and responsibilities in their families and communities” (National Research Council…, n.d.). Also, in the history of many cultures, children between the ages of 6 and 7 were given adult responsibilities like helping care for the family and work with their elders. In the United States, cultural differences are often affected by where different races and cultures tend to live. For example, Black children are more likely than white children to live in or near a big city and are more likely to live in an apartment, project, or two-family home (National Research Council…, n.d.). There are also many differences in the family structure of children who are different races or ethnicities that can affect their upbringing. All of these differences among children can lead to some questions that children might have surrounding different family structures and upbringings, so it can be helpful for parents to be open to having conversations about different families. There are many books that exist about different families, so those can be helpful for parents to help children learn about different lifestyles. It is also important for parents to take the impact of ethnic and political violence on children into consideration. There are many children in the world who live with armed conflict and other acts of violence that can harm their psychological functioning (Berk & Myers, 2016). It is important for everyone to consider the lives of those children because trying to preserve the children’s well-being could potentially “be the best way to stop the transmission of violence to the next generation” (Berk & Myers, 2016).
