Written by Zuhra Mossavi, MEd, HBSc
A Simple Guide To Making Healthy Decisions for
Your Child's Educational Journey
If you are a parent who is not feeling overwhelmed, or looking for ideas for your kids to do well in school, well this article may not be for you - and that is perfectly well, of course.
However, if you are a parent that would like to learn about different ideas to help you make confident decisions that can help bridge that gap between home and school, this article may be for you.
Sometimes families may feel overwhelmed navigating the transitions between home and school; either because of uncertainty regarding the different factors, or simply needing some support with the overwhelming list of them.
My goal however is to change this perspective. Let’s not feel overwhelmed or pressured!
There are things parents do think about that are important and really they should. I will list them here, and then an approach, or thinking perspective to each category following.
- Their children’s interests, passions, learning abilities and aspirations;
- Their children’s holistic health and how they are growing, feeling and learning;
- The resources available to them as parents to make the best decisions that they possibly can;
- Important schools dates, policies, and norms;
- Teacher and staff communications, and following up appropriately.
There are probably more items you can add to this list, however this will be a good starter for now, that I can provide some feedback on.
Number 1: Your Children’s Interests, Passions, Learning Abilities and Aspirations
The first step of planning for your child’s future does not start in schools, it starts in your home, it starts with you!
The first step towards building towards the confidence and peace you are looking for as a parent for your child, in their educational upbringing, is taking the time to be present with them to learn about who they are, what they love, what they are drawn to, inspired by, or what gifts or talents they may show.
This is the first guide, from this list at least, that will help you as a parent towards building up for your child. Try to identify 3 things they love or are drawn to, or earlier on, 3 things that they react well to and seem to have a strength or inclination for. Pay attention to those interests, and nurture the ones you see that can help them, strengthen them - and usually all the interests of a child are beautiful and pure in nature, so don’t think you should nurture only a few things. This is a time to think about your child holistically, in their passions and interests as well or potential ones.
Number 2: Your Children’s Holistic Health and How They are Growing, Feeling and Learning
This is a nice transition from point one, into holistic health and development reflection! Holistic health is a term that is generally used to describe health that is conscious of the spiritual, mental/emotional, and physical self. In our point, we are also going to look at holistic development! This one is more fitting to the aspect of education or learning or passions/interest finding. Holistic development considers the fact that the individual self not only needs to be nourished physically with healthy food, fresh air, and exercise, but is also connected to a spiritual appetite for growth (the greatest appetite of all, really), as well as mental and emotional appetites. There is also a social appetite that plays a main part as well, as humans are part of a greater community or connection to all people/nature or life. So think about your child! Do they have outlets where their physical, mental, spiritual, and social needs can be met? Try to answer those questions.
This article can lead into another one with more details, in fact all of these elements can, so keep tab after as well, if you like these topics.
Number 3: The Resources Available to you as Parents to make the Best Decisions you Possibly Can
This is where a lot of the stress should come down, as we simply have to use our real life and the options around us to guide us - and no, that does not mean we are limited and should be content with our limits - that means that we should not worry, and in fact we have a lot of options and can do more than we think. The real key in life to success and progress is consistency, which reflects belief, which reflects trust in a Greater system and Power. So, what kinds of resources should you look for as a parent? After identifying some answers to the questions or pointers (underlined above) in points 1 and 2, try to ask yourself now, what resources may you have that can help you with nurturing the answers you have identified. You know some skills or interests your child is inclined to, you also know of some possible outlets or ideas for where their holistic needs can be met, do you have access to nurturing directly, or do you need support to do this? Some things, like social nurture, you will have to seek out more, such as time with family or more active participation in community events and programs. Take your list, and see what you can do! We also support you in these tasks, not to be taken lightly! In case you may ever want some help with answering the questions to points 1 and 2 (or all 1-5), we love this kind of work (it is a main part of what we do) and it would be a privilege/honour to help you out. So now off to point 4!
Number 4: Important School Dates, Policies, and Norms
A big part of parents’ decision making is deciding where they want to send their children to school. Depending on the previous points, you may have considered homeschooling, public school, or private school. You choose an option that meets the needs of your child and yours in terms of the best of your abilities to access the resources you need. Trust the process and always put your faith in the Higher power of the One who is our Sustainer and True Guide. Once you decide on the route for your child, school wise, be at peace that you have done due diligence, and now gradually ease into the routine of the school, paying attention with its alignment to your foundational thoughts, needs and reflections. If perchance the school for some reason sways way out of range from where it should have been, you can reassess it at the time, but that would be highly unlikely if you have taken the steps of building up to it, as similarly to what is described in this article.
Number 5: Teacher/School Communications and Following-Up Appropriately
We are here to point number 5! Amazing. I hope you have sincerely benefited from this article thus far with information that resonated and made you feel light. For point number 5 it can be simple, remembering to keep positive communications. Keeping positive communications means looking for the welcome email, access to important information, times, schedules, school yearly calendar, special/important dates, and any communications from the teacher such as special requests or classroom needs for your child. Know which links you need to go to, and most schools have weekly or monthly check-ins for parents with news, updates, announcements or reminders. Part of good communication is knowing you can ask questions, and should, following up with teachers as need comes up. Use the agendas, as usually there are teacher/parent communication spaces. You can ask questions like: can my child start on the next reading level? Oftentimes it is nice to send a simple “Thank-you!” message.
Like anything in life, look at every day as an ongoing learning, growing opportunity/possibility and expect to (hope to!) learn things you may have not known before!
For more information about Aspire services, please visit www.aspirenn.ca/services.
