Unlike boys, the girl child in India faces more challenges in education and life at large that will stretch her mental abilities to the limit. From retrogressive cultural practices to early motherhood challenges, a lot can get in the way of the future of your little one. It’s important that parents, therefore, bring up their children adeptly, mentally speaking, so they can be better prepared to handle whatever life throws at them. In that regard and from our experience as a long-standing girls higher secondary school in Madurai, we thought we’d put this guide together to help parents sharpen their daughters’ mental prowess.
1.Be the role model
Children look up to their parents in terms of how they connect with the real world, socially and emotionally speaking. Even when your think your child isn’t paying attention, she is closely monitoring your moves.
You are your child’s first teacher, and you need to prepare the mental and behavioral blueprint to guide you. Be strong and your coverage will reverberate down to them. It’s okay to be vulnerable in front of your child. We all crumble at some point, but we shouldn’t bottle up our emotions. So if you’d like your girl child to be more open about sharing her feelings and reservations with you, start by leading the way.
2.Set up a routine
If your child is coming back to school from an extended absence, then you could also give her the mental warmup she needs to get back into a rhythm by way of a “pre-school” routine. For instance, you could start setting timelines for your girl to do the following:
- Wake up
- Brush her hair
- Take breakfast
Leading up to the school week, it’s important to also help your daughter cut out the late nights to restore her sleep patterns to normalcy. Improving sleep quality can also improve EQ, memory abilities, and learning at large.
3.Create a distinct learning space
Do you have a separate learning space at home from the rest of the house? It doesn’t need to be as elaborate as the entirety of a room. Just a dedicated learning space, in a quiet place of the house, suffices. A dining room table should do the trick as well.
The reason our higher secondary girls school recommends this is because children tend to feel mentally overwhelmed when their home and school worlds overlap. So it’s important you have a space where she can study, read and do her homework, that’s separate from the casual tone of the rest of your home. That way, when they’re out of school, they truly feel out of school.
4.Build a social life around your kids
A lot of the time, children act out or lose motivation for school and life, simply because they feel that their parents don’t quite value them enough. They seek this valuation from friends and outside sources, who may not be best placed to offer guidance.
Therefore, we encourage parents to build a social life with their kids. If your child, for example, learns at the best girls schools in Madurai such as Sitalakshmi Girls Higher Secondary School, try to encourage social connections within the school to the real world. You can do this by connecting with the parents of your child’s school friends so that you develop their social life beyond school perimeters.
When parents are more invested in growing and nurturing their child’s social networks, then girl children feel more understood and loved. In the end, this provides a strong bearing for success in school and life.
5.Water her self-esteem early
Life and school will send setbacks every so often in your daughter’s way. Here, their level of self-confidence will influence whether these setbacks will keep her down, or give her even extra motivation to succeed and do better next time.
Moreover, strong self-esteem further allows your child to not be afraid to take risks in her learning while providing the base to navigate social dilemmas that will come her way sooner or later. Here are some tips from the best girls schools Madurai has to offer on how to grow your child’s self-esteem:
- Step back and let your child take risks, solve problems, and make her own choices and mistakes
- Don’t overpraise. Recognizing your child’s wins is important but some parents can go overboard. When you overpraise, your child can lower the bar. So only give praise when it’s earned. In the same breath, don’t reprimand either. Instead, help your child realize their shortcomings and their ability to do better.
- Set appropriate goals to match your child’s ability
6.Helicopter parenting won’t work
It’s hardwired in most parents. That innate instinct to protect their daughters, particularly, from any and every threat and potential threat. Understandably, you want the best for your child and part of that involves shielding her from harm no doubt. However, you don’t want to be always hovering over their every move.
Our world is far from perfect. Life’s journeys can be a rollercoaster of emotion, both good and bad. Yet, the only way to learn from the negative emotions is to actually go through them. For how else will your girl learn?
Let her feel the sting of disappointment, however, don’t let an experience keep her down. You may be tempted to provide alternative options when disappointment strikes, but it’s even more useful when you teach your child how to cope with disappointment. Emphasize that it’s okay to feel sadness and letdown, and not everything will always work in her favor. But that’s okay and it’s more important for your child to focus more on the opportunities of the future than the ghosts of the past.
Don’t skip money management
A key part of teaching your child mental balance is money management, which we feel doesn’t get as much attention as it should. Yet studies show certain money situations can lead to panic, anxiety, and even sleep problems when financial difficulties go unresolved. Demonstrate the importance of saving, how to avoid impulse buys, and the value of money in terms of work, and your daughter will understand financial literacy early. That’s it for our guide today. However, feel free to look around our blog for more tips on schooling girls and preparing them for the life ahead