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Top 9 Issues That Can Profoundly Affect Your Child’s Performance in School
Sending your child to school is an achievement, and it’s even better when you’re celebrating their highs. However, don’t forget about the lows kids face at school. While teachers can tackle a few problems for your child regarding their education, there is a lot more that affects your child and their performance. Your child’s performance, if low, could be an indicator that all isn’t well; be attentive to their difficulties. Here are some issues that could profoundly affect your child’s performance in school.
Family dynamic changes
Relationship changes in the family, such as parents going through a divorce or two families blending, can upset and confuse your child, causing their withdrawal at school and acting out. When both parents in the family begin seeing new people and introducing them to the kids, sometimes, they may be unable to navigate their emotions and feel left out or neglected.
Similarly, when a parent is newly single, they work longer hours to provide for the family. While the child is still coping with the trauma, they don’t have their parent to comfort and reassure them. In such cases, the child deals with their thoughts alone, leading to poor school performance.
Sibling bullying
Many parents hardly recognize the harm that sibling bullying can impact to one of their children. Sometimes, they assume that it’s a sibling dynamic to engage in some fun poking and rough-housing. However, sibling bullying often gets out of hand without the parent’s knowledge. It results in low self-esteem on the victim, causing emotional turmoil such as depression, loneliness, and hopelessness. These problems lead to low performance as the child struggles to focus on schoolwork while worrying about facing their siblings.
Financial Instability
Every family has its fair share of ups and downs, but sometimes the downs can linger for too long. One such down moment is financial instability that impacts a child’s performance in school negatively. Sometimes, children can’t cope with changes, such as having to survive with less. Where a parent becomes single, working long hours leaves the child with more responsibility at home. Research from UNICEF reveals that children from financially unstable families perform poorly in teamwork activities, vocabulary skills, and concentration.
Learning disabilities
Learning disabilities occur due to neurobiological or genetic factors that alter brain functioning that, in turn, affect cognitive learning processes. These problems interfere with a child’s ability to learn basic skills such as solving math calculations, reading, and writing. They also interfere with high-level skills like abstract reasoning, time planning, retaining attention and long-term memory, and organization. Most learning disorders are unpreventable but can be overcome to a point where a child becomes successful in the classroom. Some learning disabilities include dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyslexia, and non-verbal learning disorders.
Poor health and wellness
Health is a vital factor that many people struggle with, and some children aren’t spared. Apart from the once-in-a-while flu that can keep your child away from class for a day or two, some children struggle with terminal illnesses. These include cancer and diabetes. Such diseases that keep them away from school for long periods affect their performance. Additionally, experiencing pain and discomfort while studying can lead to low academic performance due to inadequate concentration in class. Though their peers and teachers can bring them up to speed, your child may be unable to perform as well as the others do.
Disciplinary issues
When a child goes to school, parents hope for the best, but there’s also the constant worry about who they interact with when parents or an authoritative figure isn’t watching. It’s difficult to imagine the worst about your child, but it is vital to look for signs. One such sign is poor performance in school. When your child falls into the wrong company or starts engaging in delinquent behavior such as vandalism, drug abuse, and other crimes, their performance significantly dwindles. It is vital to pay close attention to behavioral changes in your child, such as being more withdrawn, aggression, irritation, and acting in suspicion.
School bullying
Bullying in school, although prohibited, sometimes occurs, and your child can fall victim. Bullying in school occurs in various ways, including physical, mental, and emotional torture. It especially happens to kids who don’t fit in due to their race, sexual orientation, financial status, or simple issues like dressing. While no parent would want to imagine that their child is struggling with bullying in school, it is necessary to look out for the signs. Most importantly, communicate with your child and constantly reassure them. In case of such situations that impact your child negatively, take immediate action and inform the school.
Constant location changes
Some families move from location to location a lot, significantly affecting their children’s performance in school due to lack of stability. Moving from one school to another is overwhelming, especially when getting around with a new school timetable and forming new friendships. While it’s necessary to move to new places with better opportunities for the parents, it’s equally vital to consider how it affects the child. It takes a while before children adapt to new environments, especially curriculum changes, which can affect their performance.
School systems and teachers’ abilities
School systems are designed to help children achieve the best they can out of learning, but they don’t work for all children. As a parent, you want to give your child what you think is best. However, taking them to a school where they aren’t comfortable doesn’t always yield the best results. Teachers are a great influence on your child’s performance. Some teachers are more endowed with skills, while for others, it’s just a profession. Look into the issues that affect your child’s performance while at school to determine the best action.
Education is essential to all children; it is an investment for the future. After enrolling your child in school, be keen to observe their performance. If you notice your child’s performance is dwindling, look into the causative agents. Determine if you’re in an unhealthy relationship with your spouse, curb sibling bullying, take care of their health, and enroll your child in schools where they’re more comfortable.
