Being a good parent is hard, and it’s harder now than it has ever been before. Some may say it’s always been a challenge to be a good parent, and that children have not changed much over the years. It’s true children have not changed, but the circumstances of parenting are different, including the increasing role of technology and
Commentary Canadian students have been out of school for more than a month because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and parents are taking on increased responsibilities in homeschooling. In many cases, parents are reluctant teachers and wonder whether they are doing an adequate job. There are three questions they probably want answered: Can I do a
The battle against the spread of COVID-19 requires social distancing or confinement that radically changes the way we live with our children and adolescents. As physical and health education (PHE) teachers responsible for the health education courses offered at l’ Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) for future teachers, we have some advice for families living
Using Scholastic Online Learning with Kids at Home Are you a parent in Singapore who has children at home because of the coronavirus? Are you looking for free and trusted resources online to help your child learn? Scholastic has been helping children learn for generations and has free resources for parents of children from preschool
Smartphone addiction is a real problem nowadays. Whether we are walking, having a meal or taking public transportation, many of us never stop using our smartphones as if our lives depend on it. The worst thing is that it has even affected our younger generations as well. In hopes to save kids from electronic gadgets,
It’s the beginning of the school year, and education issues will as usual be very much in the news. Articles will appear acclaiming the success of U.S. schools or deriding their failures. Debates will ensue about Common Core and whether it works. There will be arguments over whether students learn better from books or from
When we visited 1 Academy on a Saturday afternoon, the students were busy doing experiments with the latest science kits that Mr. Howard Yu had brought from China. “The children like the equipment, which is in line with the syllabus. The aeroplane experiment is very comprehensive and detailed,” said Mr Yu, the 43-year-old founder of
Primary School Teacher Dad once shared with me a thought-provoking story. In a devout place where everybody attends Sunday service, there was a businessman who was hooked on bowling. For weeks, he sneaked off to bowl while everybody devoutly said prayers to God. A little angel in heaven came to know of this and reported
When a child asks, “Dad, are we rich?” the typical American dad will reply, “I am, but you are not. I earned my money through hard work. When you grow up, you can also do the same.” The child who hears this will be motivated to work hard, and he will develop expectations in life.
Most of us would agree that we want to encourage children to be physically active, get enough sleep, and keep their screen time at healthy levels. But did you know that this starts from birth? And, what is enough sleep for young children? Also, given the ubiquity of screens, what is a healthy level of
Don’t force an unremorseful kid to apologize until they’re truly sorry, new research suggests. The point of an apology—to express remorse and repair relationships—is lost because children may dislike the apologizer even more after the insincere apology than before. The new study looks at whether children distinguish between willingly given and coerced expressions of remorse—and
An acquaintance recently related a story from her days as a kindergarten teacher. Once, in haste, she started throwing workbooks to her pupils at the back of the classroom. To expedite the process, she asked a boy to help her distribute. To her horror, he started throwing workbooks as well. “That was when I realise
The OECD consistently finds girls perform significantly better than boys in reading. This gap can also be observed across the Australian NAPLAN reading data. Research suggests reading more can improve literacy outcomes across a range of indicators. But girls typically read more frequently than boys, and have a more positive attitude toward reading. Parents read more with their daughters. This sends a strong
Each year, more parents send their young child to elementary school equipped with a smartphone. For instance, the percentage of third-graders who reported having their own cellphone more than doubled from 19 percent in 2013 to 45 percent in 2017. Similar increases took place for fourth-graders and fifth-graders. About half of fourth-graders and 70 percent of fifth-graders went to school
Nobody is perfect, but we can try to nurture our children to be better people. When educating children at home, many parents have experienced unpleasant situations where they realize that their child’s behaviour has changed, but they can’t understand where the problem came from. Actually, a child’s behaviour is a reflection of their parents’ behaviour.
