Mind What You Say

I think most parents forgot that what ever they say or do, their children are watching and look up to them. They are the people that children believed and trusted the most. Most parents still do not realize that those words coming from their mouth are extremely powerful and their children are listening.

I teach Maths (tuition) at night to secondary school students aged between 13 to 17. Recently, one of my 16 year old male student told me that he got zero for History. I could not believed my ears. I asked if he wrote anything on the paper, he said no. He just wrote his name and went to sleep till the whole exam was over and passed up the blank piece of paper. Asked if his parents know about it yet. His replied shocked me, "My parents said History is of no use, we won't be needing it when we work in the future."

I used to teach English and Bahasa Malaysia to primary school children few years back. I remembered there was this mother who was very concern about her son's studies. She would checked with me her son's progress every now and then. Every time when I chat with her, in the presence of her son, she always said, "As long as he knows a bit of English and Bahasa Malaysia, just enough to be able to fill up forms when applying for loans etc, it is good enough."

So no matter how I teach him, even my other students had improved, he remains the same and his mum still do not understand why. Well, most parents would blamed it on the school or tuition teachers and never on themselves.

To me, able to study is an attitude. Something that the parents have to coach since young, just like potty training, manners etc. If they start with the right mind set, studying is not a problem. You can employ the best professor to teach your child but without the right attitude about learning, you are wasting your money.

Thanks for reading and hope your child loves learning. Make it fun and tell them it is as easy as learning a new on-line game.