How was spending time with your children like this holiday? The holiday has ended today and school will be resuming on Monday. Your child’s success is going to be depending a lot on their upbringing, perspective on life and confidence level. So as this new term is beginning, having a conversation with your children about having the mindset of possibilities and a ‘l can do’ attitude is a good idea.
Children in a marriage can sometimes cause friction, but this third term school resumption, try to make your relationship with your spouse and children to thrive by providing your children and spouse a safe, conducive and open space to express their concern, doubts, fear and needs. It is very easy to perceive your spouse or children’s communication as an attack. This is third term and promotion term for your children; listen carefully to what they are saying so that you will earn their confidence and end their fear, worry and self-doubt.
Build in system and structure to stop the early morning yelling tantrums, threats and meltdown that create confusion, lateness to school, and not doing homework. Use Saturday and Sunday to create a lasting memory and connection with your spouse and children. School run is always hectic and stressful. Use this weekend very well to create bonding time with your family before they return to school on Monday.
The hard truth we refuse to tell ourselves as parents is that at your funeral your spouse and children will not talk about the number of hours you worked and did business or built the empire you want to leave behind for them, your bank account, the cars and the houses you had, the different art collections you purchased; what they will talk about are the memories you created with them, how they felt loved and appreciated by you, how you made them feel, how loyal they feel you were to them and the generosity they felt.
Dear parents, as this new term begins, always remember to be fair. Don’t do favouritism especially if you have more than one child. Be kind, be honest, be truthful to your spouse and children. Do not show more love to those academically sound than to those not academically sound. Let me tell you for free, if you do all these things, it will come back to you. Comparing your children will cause division amongst them. Today, you are the parent, very active, your children are depending on you for everything; tomorrow they will be the active people and you will be depending on them, not necessarily for money but for kindness and empathy. Treat them the way you want them to treat you when you are old and not able to do much again.
As this term begins, do you understand your child’s best learning style? Treat your children’s teacher and staff with respect and honour. They are different people with different perspectives. Things are not always what they seem. Ask question, seek to understand them. Be patient, show empathy. Don’t be reactive, be proactive. Don’t be driven by feelings or emotion, be emotionally intelligent. You can’t leave your child you love with someone you disregard and treat badly. How do you want the teacher to treat your child? Treat your child’s teacher with care and respect.
Don’t ask the school to change to accommodate you and your child. If you have chosen that school for your child, you have to challenge yourself, sculpt the life of your child to obey the school rules and regulation. Make it a priority to help your children to live a responsible life and encourage them to surround themselves with people who make them smarter. No excuse is good enough to go drop your child in school late always. Raising children is a call to re-parenting ourselves. If you were not an early riser, you have to learn to wake up early. ‘Early to bed, early to rise’ should become a daily rhyme in your home. It takes discipline to become a responsible, relevant citizen.
The best way of modelling anything to your child is by you living it out as an example for them to copy. Ensure that their stationery, food pack, shoes, uniform, school bag, stockings, belt, tie, books – everything they need to make the term successful – are fully provided. Learning may not be effective if all the tools and materials needed for learning are not sorted and made available when they are needed. Commit them into God’s hand to be kept from external influences that don’t align with your family values.
Welcome to third term 2023/2024.
