Things You Must Do to Raise A Successful Child (Part 2)

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Ineh Olisah

As parents, we desire to have intelligent and gifted children who outdo our own achievement at each developmental milestone and make us proud and fulfilled parents in the future. Since no one has a more genuine interest in your child than you do, the onus of helping them maximize their potentials to become successful in life lies on you.

Find 10 things you should do to steer yourself in the right direction:

…Continued from part 1

6. QUIT THE SPOON-FEEDING

Do you often edit your child’s homework to the extent that you eliminate all his mistakes so he scores 100% every time without any tutoring? When he meets the same task in an exam, nothing will prevent his real ability from showing. Concealing his real ability does not afford him the chance to improve and as time goes on, he learns to dissociate hard work from success.

7. INCULCATE INDEPENDENCE

Don’t micromanage. Teach strategies for goal setting and resilience. Help him learn to manage his time and get organized. Show him how to make daily and weekly checklists of tasks to be accomplished and strike them out as they’re executed. Teach the ills of procrastination and how to break tasks down into manageable sections to ensure even when you’re not playing facilitator, he gets things properly done.

8. TEACH PERSISTENCE

Don’t fuel mediocrity by telling your child, ‘You’re good at everything but French and Home Economics, which aren’t important anyway’ or ‘I know you don’t like Maths, I doubt you’ll need it as an Arts student’. Encourage gaining an average ability at least in all subjects by coupling believing in himself with persistent hard work.

9. PRAISE AND ENCOURAGE

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The words you use can either set your child up for failure or equip him to put more zeal into succeeding. I know after paying so much to enroll him in that international school, buying all textbooks and paying for the extra lessons, it’s heartbreaking to see red inks here and there at the end of the term but you’ll have to watch your words while you register your disappointment. Praise the slightest improvement, encourage more hard work. Don’t look at his result and you go, ‘It’s a miracle you passed Maths this time. Anyway, you had a mere 52%; nothing impressive. It’s a shame you’re not like me. I always had nothing less…’ Hurtful words and endless lectures serve no use in the long run.

10. VOLUNTEERING

Encouraging your child’s participation in volunteer activities with community groups, religious organizations, student unions, NGOs and so on, is an effective way to hone his skills and improve competence while expanding his social circle and promoting his social awareness. It’s a constructive way for your child to gain salient job skills and experience while exploring potential career options.

Photo credit: madamenoire.com