8 Propitious Practices for Learning Environment At Home—Making Kids More Confident
If you are not confident about yourself, you are defeated twice in the long and herculean race of life. Must work on it! And the best place to start from, is your home and make learning environment!
The confidence we have in our minds, bodies, and souls is the only thing that makes us keep struggling for new explorations and new adventures. And this confidence comes from persistent dedication and hard work of hours & weeks & years. So shouldn’t it start from your own home? Yes without any doubt! And the best way to do so is to have a perfect learning environment at home.
The home-based learning environment defines the overall environment of home & family interactions as well. A well balanced and nourishing environment makes your children more confident and increases their exposure.
The previous article taught you how to create a good learning environment at your home. But just creating such environment is not enough. You have to do a lot more. Here are some ‘must to adopt practices’ which will help your child to become more confident and feel comfortable while learning process.
- Prioritize Learning—Joshi’s experience
Children value education only when you make learning important for them and for yourself too. Reading aloud in front of your children is a good practice that promote learning. But it would be a cherry on the cake if guardians or parents themselves read for fun and enjoyment.
Your kids do the same what you do. This way, your children will also find amusement in reading which will build a healthy reading habits in them as well. Which can make your children confident and more comfortable for learning new things.
Joshi, a research scholar, says reading is the most effective and easiest way to build a perfect learning environment at home. She further said that when her daughter was born, she used to read books in front of her daughter quite frequently. Her daughter is now grown up but she still reads in front of her daughter. Now, reading has become a vital part of her daughter’s life. Joshi says, she doesn’t need to ask her daughter to read instead she herself desires to read.
- Learning Gaps Should Be Addressed
To make your child confident it is necessary to address the learning gaps they face in their learning process. Because if they find something difficult in their studies, they will get confused about it. Which will hinder them from learning new things. They will stick to that particular problem they are having. Most probably they will start comparing their-selves with others. Which squeezes confidence from them just like the water from the clothes.
To address the learning gaps, start noticing the things your children avoid in the tasks or projects they are assigned. For example, normally kids get confused about the signs of equals, subtraction, or addition. Which means they are having problem in it. There can be much more other confusions they might face. Help them in coming out of it. Once such learning gaps are fulfilled, they will gain confidence that yes they can do. They will start doing new things automatically just due to such confidence.
- Do Things With Your Kids Rather Than Doing For Them
When your children are learning something engage yourself as well in this process. By participating in daily routine activities kids can gain confidence and self-reliance. Moreover, by doing so they would know that their contribution in home is worthy which enhances their self-worth. It will boost their confidence to the next level.
For example, if your child has a problem in understanding a mathematics question then never solve it for them. Rather, ask them the main problem they are having in solving it. After recognizing the problem, help them by explaining in the easiest way by triggering the main problem and ask them to solve it by their own.
If you will do the things for them, you will not only be absorbing their self-confidence but also be creating a safe place that would allow them to make mistakes in future. So be very careful in this matter.
- Don’t Make Your Children Bibliomaniac—Instead Encourage Play
Being a book worm is just like an incurable curse. Do not let this happen. Instead encourage your children for healthy and open-ended plays. This will soar their imagination and will help them in strengthening their brain capabilities and expanding their vision to the world.
In the early stages of life, the best opportunities for learning come from healthy activities and play, rather than from academics. Kids-directed plays not only contribute to social, cognitive, physical, and emotional development, but it also enhances self-esteem and boosts self-confidence.
These 4 types of play can be adopted in the learning environment:
- Physical Play—It may include climbing, running, or playing any other sports. It will help the children in remaining active both mentally and physically.
- Creative Play—It may consist of singing, painting, journalism, etc. It helps in improving self-expression and mental skills.
- Discovery Play—It is that form of play which enhances the curiosity level of your children. It makes them able to explore new things and to find the reasons of the existing things.
- Imaginative Play—It is that type of play which fosters the skills of problem solving, socializing, and imaginative skills. Examples are house playing, guest playing, and pretending cooking.
- Make Sure, Your Children Have A Hobby
A hobby is the jargon of self-accomplishment & a source of self-discovery. It helps the children to set their goals, build their self-esteem, and to make decisions in their lives.
Hence, figure out your child’s interests get them intricate with different sorts like music, art, yoga, gardening, etc. You can also join your kids in their hobbies and can do it together. For example, you can paint together, make slime together, and draw together.
- Serve Them With Healthy Meals
For attaining the appreciable confidence and concentration to leaning, it is necessary to have a sound physical and mental state. And to obtain such state it is mandatory to have healthy meals. Serve your children nutrients enriched meals & snacks like antioxidants, whole grains, Omega-3 fatty acids, and all needed nutrients & proteins.
- Switch To The Non-Traditional Ways Of Learning
Non-traditional ways should also be adopted along with the traditional ones to make the learning environment more beneficial. Such non-traditional ways may include, visiting a museum, going for grocery, a nature center, or even performing tasks regarding home improvement.
While visiting all such places engage your children in exploring different things by asking different questions from them. For instance, at a grocery store, ask your kids different questions about some weird fruits or vegetables that what is it & what are its benefits. Moreover, while choosing groceries tell your kids about your way of doing grocery i.e, how you choose different things (according to their price & quality).
Through a healthy communication and spending time with each other, new experiences for learning would be explored and your kids would find a fun factor in the learning process.
- Make Them Feel Okay If They Fail
Never over burden your kids with the heavy load of success. Don’t force them to get success in every task they perform or to get highest grades in the school. Such over weighted burden can also suppress their inner abilities. Your children will be afraid of trying new things just because of the failure fear.
Make them feel okay if they couldn’t perform well. Motivate them to do their best for the next time. Chalk out different ways your kids may follow to be successful in their efforts. This will open their mind for accepting the failure. And accepting the failure is the big success in itself. Which will increase the morale and will build a sportsman spirit in the children.
Telling success stories all the time is also not good. You can also motivate your children by telling them your own failure stories. And just not telling stories but also the moral of the stories that what they should learn from it.
In nutshell, by adopting all aforementioned techniques in the learning environment, you will help your children to gain self-confidence which will help them throughout their lives!
Tell me in the comments section, some other techniques that you think are worthy to adopt in a learning environment.
