Looking for ways to minimize the amount of frustration and anxiety your child experiences while studying remotely?
Here are five tips to help make remote learning work.
Also, take a look at our Back-to-School Mental Health Kit for more information on Your Child’s Mental Wellness and Remote Learning.
- Protect your family’s downtime. You don’t want your children to feel like they’re living at school. They need time off to relax, unwind, and generally enjoy being kids. It can be helpful to wind up the school day with a predictable ritual or activity—perhaps singing a song or heading out the door for a family bike ride around the block.
- Tuck your child’s learning materials out of sight when it’s time to switch into family mode. This could be as simple as putting learning materials in a drawer—a powerful visual cue that will encourage your child to shift gears at the end of the school day.
- Encourage your child to speak openly about any challenges or frustrations they are experiencing. In addition to validating their feelings (“It makes sense that you’re feeling frustrated. It’s so annoying when your computer keeps crashing!”), you can help your child to brainstorm some possible solutions—like reaching out to the teacher to see if other students are experiencing this same problem. You want your child to recognize that it’s possible to find a way to make things better, even if a particular problem feels completely overwhelming at first.
- Continue to prioritize your child’s mental health. Learning can only happen when children feel safe and secure, so meeting your child’s mental health needs is a powerful way of supporting their learning while also enhancing their overall quality of life. It’s okay to make your child’s mental health the priority as you continue to parent through a strange and uncertain time.
- Make family devotions a priority. Start each day with reading a Psalm and a prayer for strength. You will find this makes a big difference in your day!