Worried that he or she might not ‘make the grade’ and not get into the college of their choice?  If you are don’t worry, you are not alone.  In my experience every parent is concerned about their child’s future and knows that education is the key that opens the door to a future full of opportunity and choice.

And most parents do what they can to make sure their child does homework well, keeps up with class mates, gets good grades.  They provide support and encouragement whenever they can.

But often this support and encouragement comes at an enormous cost.

Almost all the parents I work with are stressed, exhausted, confused, and upset over the amount of time, effort and expense that is involved in supporting their child’s education.  And no wonder!  After a full day’s work parents have to start supervising homework, checking projects get completed, answering queries from the school.  Exhausting work.

But it can – and should be – much easier to help your child succeed in school.  It can – and should – take less time than at present.  It can – and should – be stress free (even if you are so stressed that you have no idea at the moment how this can happen!). 

And all it takes is one simple change in how you provide support.

The key to stress free effective support and encouragement for your child is to make sure that the support you offer matches what your child needs to learn.

For instance; you wouldn’t put your child’s leg in a plaster cast to cure his sore throat!  You wouldn’t make her wear an overcoat to keep warm when it is over 30 degrees outside!

You would give your child something soothing for his throat or let her go outside wearing a sun hat.  You would match your support to your child’s needs.

It is the same with the support and encouragement you offer to help your child learn and succeed in school.  You need to offer support that matches your child’s learning needs.  Once you do that not only will the stress and worry disappear but your child will get the help that will make a difference, the help that leads to learning.

Think about it.  Think about how you are trying to help your child.  Think about what might be better when you match your support to what your child needs.

Then stop stressing and start watching your child soar.