Tag: Parenting with calm

Many children lose their natural curiosity as they progress through school. This is often due to traditional learning methods that can be dry and unengaging. But what if learning could be fun and exciting? In this blog post, we’ll explore ways to create a love of learning in your child.

Teaching is more than just cramming facts into young minds. It’s about igniting the spark of curiosity, a flame that fuels a lifelong love of learning. As parents and educators, we hold the key to unlocking this potential. We aren’t just shaping minds that can pass exams; we’re nurturing explorers equipped to navigate the vast landscapes of knowledge.

One fundamental issue is that many children—and even adults—don’t know how to learn effectively. Passing exams doesn’t necessarily equate to true learning.

Let’s Delve into some key aspects that hinder effective learning:

1. Lack of Engagement:
Learning methods often fail to capture a child’s interest. For instance, subjects like mathematics are sometimes taught without engaging students, leading to a lack of enthusiasm for learning. Concepts remain abstract when they cannot be connected to real-life experiences. As the first learning environment, the home plays a crucial role. Unfortunately, not all homes provide an engaging atmosphere for learning.

2. Work Overload: Regarding work overload, the belief that rescheduling activities will improve performance overlooks the need for a conducive learning environment. Instead of piling on more lessons, focus on creating an environment where genuine learning can take place. Overloading the brain can lead to information regurgitation rather than true comprehension. Scientifically, an overloaded brain tends to shut down.

3. Fear of failure: The pressure to perform and an overemphasis on grades can prevent a child from taking risks and learning from mistakes, ultimately hindering true learning.

4. Constant comparison with peers can undermine a child’s confidence and motivation to learn. When a child is pressured, they may fail to grasp the significance of failure and its role in achieving success.

How can Children Learn?

Teaching children how to learn before they begin formal education is crucial. This lays a foundation for a lifetime of academic success. Academic achievement is merely a byproduct of learning; therefore, cultivating learning skills is paramount in their educational journey. If a child is not equipped with the ability to learn, they will encounter challenges throughout their lives.

1. Metacognition, the ability to think about one’s thinking, is essential. It involves understanding one’s learning process, identifying strengths, monitoring progress, and reflecting on experiences. This process begins with self-awareness. Thus, completing homework on behalf of a child deprives them of the opportunity to engage in metacognitive thinking. Consider the numerous creatives who have flourished outside traditional educational structures; many of them found support for their learning within their home environments. When the brain lacks training in learning, acquiring knowledge becomes arduous.

2. Critical thinking : Critical thinking and questioning are essential skills to instill in your children. Encourage them to think critically and question information they encounter.

3. Effective note-taking: Effective note-taking is another crucial skill. Before becoming effective note-takers, children must learn to be active listeners. Note-taking is a part of active listening, and guiding children on how to summarize information clearly is essential. Teaching methods like mind mapping can aid in conceptualization. Notes serve as repositories of wisdom, captured on paper.

4. Time management: Time management is key. Help your children understand the importance of prioritization, identifying urgent tasks, creating schedules, and planning. Providing structured systems for organizations is crucial, as unpredictability can hinder productivity.

5.Adaptability and resilience: Adaptability and resilience are vital qualities for success. Success, such as passing medical school, relies more on adaptability and resilience than sheer intelligence. Shielding children from failure deprives them of valuable learning experiences. Emphasize the value of embracing challenges, learning from setbacks, and adapting to change.

6. Communication and Collaboration Skills: Communication and collaboration skills are also essential. Teach children how to work in groups, share ideas, communicate effectively, and respect others’ viewpoints. These skills are often not taught in school but are crucial for success in various endeavors.

7. Encourage a joy for learning in your children. Learning should be viewed as a lifelong journey, and instilling self-reliance is crucial. Focus on self-improvement as a parent, as children often mirror their parents’ behavior,

IS YOUR CHILD STRUGGLING TO LEARN?

Your child might be struggling because you don’t understand how he learns!
My daughter is a dominant auditory learner I will say 80%. This makes her verbal and auditory coordination so apt!

A few years ago, we got them bicycles to learn, in split seconds her twin brother who is a dominant Kinesthetic learner started to ride. So kinesthetic learners find physical activities very easy to come by. Our son learned to swim the same day the swim Coach started his lessons.

In all these years, we have been looking for a way to make our daughter learn to ride because physical activities are part of our value system in our home. No, we never said “Can’t you see! your twin brother can ride easily bla bla! That stuff kills a child who would like to learn faster, it’s comparison even though parents

Well, we thought of how best we could teach her, and then boom her learning style was it. So we started to feed her ears first with the learnings on how to ride and not the actual ride itself. Then we got safety guards, …. And our big daughter decided to do the teaching job itself.

Using her dominant learning style instead of forcing and assuming she should just know…she learned how to ride her bike in 2days!!!

Do you know that understanding your child’s learning style might be the singular solution to her learning difficulties?

At The Intentional Parent Academy, we run a course where we just don’t teach parents how to identify the learning styles of their children, we also teach them how to use these learning styles to make their children study effectively and even discipline them correctly.
Have you registered to be part of the learning style course Yet?
To join the Learning Style Course, simply click the link below:

https://theintentionalparentacademy.selar.co/Learningstylecourse2024

Or pay #10,500 to 0509494057 (GTB). The Intentional Parent Academy. Send proof to 09036633600

Yelling is a big deal in our clime, in fact it is everywhere globally. Yelling is known to be passed from parents to offspring\’s. Once you are yelled at as a child, automatically you pick up yelling and your children pick it up too and the cycle continues. Growing up, my parents never yelled and we listened to them more than the yelling parents.

Some parents believe their children do not listen except you yell at them. This is a bad narrative sold to us that is completely wrong. The more you yell, the more your child resists what you are teaching.

Yelling has other side effect both on the yelling parent and the yelled child. The bad effect to the yelling parent as :high blood pressure, artery pain, anxiety, heart attack, anger issue and a lot more on this list. My best selling book ‘from yelling to calm’ is my journey from being a yeller to a calm parent.

You can order a copy of from yelling to calm here

Yelling also has its negative effects on our children; we bring up children who are timid, children without great self esteem, the inability to stand up to an adult whether the adult is wrong or not. Most of us were instructed not to question an adult, even when the adults seem to be wrong. One of the greatest gift we can give to our children is the ability to question our actions. Yelling affects the self esteem of our children, both at home and outside, children who cannot speak up. We raise children who cannot stand up for themselves.

This low self esteem eventually follows then through out their growth process, till adulthood. However you program your child, that\’s how your child will grow. The ability of a child to stand up and say that s/he is not okay with the abuse being melted on him/her is as a result of how their parents trained them. Our training as parents will help instill confidence in our children and enable them to speak up and leave an abusive environments.

The ability to think was shut down for most of us when were growing up. Not yelling at your child does not mean permissive parenting. It only means that you can parent in a more effective way apart from yelling. One of the reasons I am actively fighting the way we were raised is that, we are intentionally and unintentionally transferring this to our children. Training is beyond yelling and beating a child. Training requires that you do the job of discipline which requires you to build a structure.

The five basic things you can do to grab your child\’s attention without yelling and :

1. Take the opposite tone: The harder your child’s voice becomes, the softer the tone we respond with. With this, You are teaching your child how he is supposed to be. Model the kind of conversational skill you want them to emulate. With this, the child learns by your behavior because children learn better by what you model to them. The book “from yelling to calm” shows that the angry person needs the most kind words. This helps us to take the opposite tone and the next person backs down. Soft words turns away wrath.
2. Calm repetition: Most times, we demand that when we speak, the child picks it instantly. But we need to implement the calm approach, which is quietly repeating what you said to the child. Repeating the same phrase as much as it needs to be. You need to make an impression for anybody to internalize a message.
   For anyone to learn and internalize a message, you need to make an impression, and for you to make an impression, it comes from repetition. Calm repetition can be a great tool to learn instead of yelling. When calm repetition is practised, the child will know how serious you are. Always remember that whatever you sow in your children, that is what you reap. In parenting there is seed time and harvest. There is no time frame to the harvest. So start now to sow the right seed required.
3. Ask questions: Instead of yelling, ask questions. When there is room for negotiation, certain phrases can turn to arguments but turned into a healthy conversation. Create a room for the child to negotiate. Use simple short calm repetitive phrases, and allow children throw in their ideas or opinion. Ask questions in short phrases to enable some kids, kinesthetic children in particular to negotiate. When you don’t have time to negotiate, ask questions.
4. Be positive and clear: Being clear and direct about what you require is important. When giving direction or instruction, be specific and direct. Once you yell, your child picks self defense mechanism. Instead of connecting, your child is thinking of defence. And at this time, the ability to listen is taken away from the child instantly. Some children do not hear whatever you say at the point of yelling at them. The brain looks for a way to escape from the present situation. The brain works to preserve the human being, therefore it doesn’t comprehend yelling. For instant, use your child’s name while giving instructions and it gets the child’s attention. Be more apt and specific when directing instructions. An upset child is not a listening child.
5. Make it fun: Sometimes you just need to diffuse the intensity of the instruction. You get your child in the position where they are able to connect. You bring in fun into the activities of the moment and this helps the child connect. Yelling is like a fire alarm. We have a Yellometer, used from ages appropriate. It alerts you the parent when raised from 7-8, when it becomes dangerous. When raising your voice becomes dangerous, it acts as a fire alarm. If you are constantly yelling, it simply means you are raising an alarm consistently. The no yelling challenge has helped a lot of parents break free from yelling
6. Take a break: If it feels like one of the two parties is loosing control, call a break. This is also helpful with couples, friends…call a break when it gets overboard. Self reflection is a great skill, which can also be modeled to a child. Give that time out if the conversation is going to make a mess of your head. Teach your children conversational self control by modeling it to the child. Discipline is not meant for the public places, this shows that as a parent, you don’t need to discipline your child in the public. Disciplining a child in the public is actually embarrassing the child and not to discipline the child. Disciplining a child in the public means you need to validate that you are a good parent. You do not need people to validate your parenting if you are doing what is right. Your child can be corrected properly by not making it an emergency. When you make it an emergency, you will not think through your process and you will do things you will eventually regret. It takes emotional muscle to parent calmly. Aggression does not solve the problem.

We are launching the NO YELLING CHALLENGE this year again. Fee is N15,500 , but instead of N15,500, You get to Pay N5,999 only to be part of this challenge.

This is like paying practically nothing to get access to this challenge , Want this offer?

ONLINE PAYMENT
https://Selar.co/Noyellingchallenge

OFFLINE PAYMENT
Pay N5,999 to 0509494057, GTBank, The Intentional Parent Academy. After payment, send your full name, and proof of payment to WhatsApp +234 812 968 7040. I will show you how I got here to parent with peace and calm at that challenge; you too can .

https://anchor.fm/wendyologe/episodes/Episode-13-The-Journey-To-Version-3-7-e1gatjd