How to manage our children’s bad grades?

Tips to apply if your son or daughter gets bad grades in school.

For children, the experience of going to school is much more than just a way to learn subjects; it is one of the most important aspects of their lives. In both childhood and adolescence, school is a crucial space both quantitatively (they spend a lot of time there) and qualitatively (they learn to socialize and learn about the world in which they live).

But it is clear that there are ways to take more or less advantage of the passage of the small ones by the school, and in this sense, the school grades are one of the best indicators to know if a student performs adequately in their studies. However... What should we do, as parents, when our children's grades are poor? Throughout this article you will find several recommendations to take into account.

5 tips on what to do if our child gets bad grades

Before the problems of academic performance in boys and girls, it is important that parents adapt their style of upbringing to each particular caseThere are no easy solutions that work the same way in all cases, and it is always essential to know the characteristics of the child and the context in which he or she lives.

That is why it is sometimes very complicated to know what is "wrong" and what causes bad grades, and in fact, in most cases there is not a single cause, but several that interact with each other. And, in the most severe cases, it becomes necessary to resort to psychologists trained in child and adolescent intervention.

However, there are times when it is possible to help the child by slightly modifying educational and parenting strategies at home, in combination with good communication with the school. That is why we will now take a look at some We will now review some tips on how to manage our children's bad grades from our role as parents. from our role as parents.

1. Talk to your son or daughter, not to lecture, but to listen.

It is very important to know their point of view about why they are getting bad grades. It is not a matter of simply taking their version for granted, but to know this information, because it is valuable and helps to understand the motivations and incentives (or lack of them) that they associate with obtaining good academic results.

You must approach this dialogue with assertivenessshowing that you respect their point of view but making it clear that, a priori, their low grades are a problem to be solved (we will see exceptions to this later on).

2. Talk to the school

It is also essential that you talk to the class tutor to find out more about what is happening; if there is one, also talk to the school psychologist or the psycho-pedagogy team.

In this way you will learn about aspects that may explain in part their poor grades and, in general, their way of experiencing school.. And if there are signs of a learning or neurodevelopmental disorder such as ADHD, you will also know about it.

If this kind of circumstances occur, it is important to diagnose the problem as soon as possible by going to the psychologist, and if it is confirmed that there is a disorder, you can readjust the expectations of the grades that your son or daughter should be getting, in addition to taking the necessary measures to adapt the school education to his or her needs.

3. Help your child to schedule his or her study time.

Create a schedule that incorporates daily study and/or homework sessions, and post it in a visible place in the house. This will act as a constant reminder that those daily minutes are part of your child's daily routine, part of the structure of the days of the week. And besides, that way you'll know whether or not he's skipping those sessions.

Of course, these schedules must allow him to have some free timeIt's important for him to be able to disconnect and socialize beyond his school obligations.

4. Teach your child to summarize

Teaching him to summarize his notes well may take several days, but in the medium and long term, it pays off. Not only will it help him have better materials to study with, but the summarizing activity will make it easier for him to understand what he reads, the activity of summarizing will make it easier for you to understand what you are readingby selecting important ideas and connecting them together.

5. Provide incentives for good grades

Many parents make the mistake of simply reprimanding their children for bad grades, making the children see school as an incentive for good grades.This makes children see school as a source of problems, something that can only detract from their well-being.

In reality, it is much better to reward your son or daughter every time he or she gets good grades. This doesn't have to involve giving them material rewards; they can be symbolic, adapted to their age and achievement, such as a picture or a medal, or a celebration. The idea is to make you feel good about what you have achieved, to make you proud of your progress.

Are you looking for child and adolescent counseling services?

Raising and educating children and adolescents is a complicated task that, in many cases, is difficult for parents. Fortunately, some psychology centers offer both family support services and child and adolescent psychotherapy.

Therefore, if you are interested in having professional psychological assistance for this kind of problems and needs, please contact us. In Cribecca Psychology we can help you either in our center located in Seville as through the mode of online therapy by video call.