Kids Are Our Future

In an ideal world, the objectives and foundational system of education programs should be uniquely matched to the demographics, interests and motivations of each child, which could be designed to suit his or her skills, learning styles, personalities, developmental concerns and cultural heritage. But in reality, educators are constrained by the resources and can not create individualized curricula that address the widely divergent needs of the students adequately. For new immigrant students, they have much more challenge to achieve in their new schools.

Parents’ support to their children’ education

Over the past many years, research has shown that parents are critical contributors to a child’s achievement. Parent or family involvement in education, which means the involvement of any adult family member or guardian in a child’s education through home or school activities, is encouraged. However, many barriers arise when families, especially those who are new immigrants, experiencing language barriers, miscommunications from different cultural perspectives, and even feelings of intimidation based on limited educational experience and unfamiliarity with the U.S. school system.

How immigrant parents may help?

Parents need to learn first

In order to help their children to receive quality education, parents need to learn and increase their knowledge and skills to support the academic achievement of their children. Children’ success in schools needs parents’ involvement especially during K–12 grades.

Parents need to learn and manage personal stress and family resources. Parents also need to recognize their own personal and parenting strengths, and cooperate with the child-rearing partner to have a sense of purpose in setting child-rearing goals, namely co-parenting effectively.

Set high standards

Regardless of ethnicity, parents’ aspirations for their children to obtain more education as well as the children’s own aspirations generally are positively related to their children’s doing well in school.

Establish a clear and common goal. Encourage children to use high standards and making efforts towards the goal. For example, encourage them go to college, and go to those prestigious colleges.

Praise children’s effort

By stressing effort not in-born intelligence, parents can help their children to study and work hard to maximize their potentials, in the meantime strengthens their children’s mental toughness which also benefits their whole life.

Establish a supportive home learning environment

For example, read to young children, have children read at least 20 minutes a day when they are capable, establish a regular time and space for doing homework, limit television viewing and game playing, have a lot of books available at home, and recognize their children for doing well in school.

Parents can build a healthy learning environment for their children by modeling appropriate desired behavior, establishing and maintaining reasonable limits, and providing children with developmentally appropriate opportunities to learn responsibility.

Support children’s emotional and social development

We strongly recommend that parents establish good and regular communication with their children, convey them fundamental values underlying basic human decency. Parents also need to monitor their children’s activities and facilitate contacts with peers and establish friendships.

In order to help their children’s emotional and social development, parents need to teach their children kindness, expressing affection and compassion, foster their children’s self-respect and optimism, and attend to their children’s feelings and ideas. In addition, help their children feel connected to family history and cultural heritage.

Communicate and collaborate with teachers

In order to get involved in their children’s education, parents need to know how their children’s schools work including grading and testing systems, and school policies. Parents can navigate the school system and access its resources and communicate with their children’s teachers frequently to know their children’s academic progress and about suggestions to support their children’s learning at home.

Many researchers have found that parent involvement in schools is an effective strategy for promoting student achievement. Most of parents know they are critical to the success of their children as well. Lets’ try our best to help children to succeed in their school and in their life.

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