While Covid has completely transformed our lives in recent months, it has also brought with it opportunities to take a significantly more active role in our children’s learning and development. However, as many of us have experienced, while we may be confident in our role as parents, we are not necessarily prepared for the challenges of supporting our children through home learning. Our natural anxiety about our children’s well-being in these difficult times can be quite overwhelming.
Key points from Tony’s ‘Living and Learning in Lockdown’ workshop:
Expectation:
- Ensure that your child knows what's coming up in their timetable and that they have what they need for classes
- Test your child's understanding - have them repeat instructions and expectations back to you, rather than you repeating them
- Prepare their area for learning - a room, a space, a desk - help them to feel that you take this seriously, so that they will too.
Motivation:
- Praise your child for their efforts, and pay attention to what they achieve during the day.
- Rewards do work to focus attention, particularly younger children, but don't use them if not necessary.
- Don't reinforce non-engagement - school work completed before leisure time begins
Capability:
- Different children show different strengths in different areas - it's normal for your child to find some things difficult.
- Empower your child to reach out to their teacher if they need help.
- Be there to problem solve if you need to, and check in regularly to make sure that your child is not struggling in silence.
Screen time
Watch Tony’s session via this link https://video.link/w/irq5c to learn about screen time myths.
It’s not so much the ‘screen time’ but what they are doing within the screen and when.
About the Presenter
Tony Louw has close to 20 years of experience working in the field of psychology across Europe and Asia. As founder and managing director of Learning Strategies, Tony has spent the last 10 years leading a team of professionals in the delivery of educational and psychological support services to the Saigon community in home, school, and clinical settings. Alongside his role in leadership, Tony’s experience includes work with children, adolescents, and adults, designing and delivering individual and group therapies, individualized educational interventions, professional development training, and inter-disciplinary case management. Tony has earned his two master’s degrees through the universities of Glasgow and Liverpool in the UK and is also qualified through the Behavior Analysis Certification Board in the USA.