Helping Your Kids
Parents Building Prodigy Kids is dedicated to encouraging parents as they navigate their parenting journey. Here are some helpful tips below. These tips are generated based off of classroom teaching experiences, parenting practices, and research.
Character
“Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.
~Heraclitus
Parent Tips:
1. Be purposeful in teaching and modeling to your kids how to have good character. Your children need to learn from you how to treat others with respect, how to be responsible, how to be patient, how to be honest, etc. Kids don’t automatically know what to do. They need to be taught and reminded by their parents.
2. Demonstrate good work ethic to your kids. They need to know that working hard and being diligent are essential to being successful in life. There will always be work to do. Their school work load will increase and become more challenging as they transition to the next grade level. Help them have a positive mindset about work. Let them know that you believe in them and that they have what it takes to succeed if they don’t give up.
3. Teach your kids to follow rules and to understand that discipline occurs if they deliberately decide to do the wrong thing. Follow through with your discipline practices. Give real life examples from adulthood to help them see that discipline also happens to adults (e.g- pay a speeding ticket for driving too fast, going to jail for committing certain crimes, getting fired from your job for not performing tasks efficiently, etc).
4. Correct your children’s behavior when they are misbehaving. Figure out why they are misbehaving and take the necessary steps to help them change for the better.
5. Help your children handle opposition in a positive way. They need to understand that things will not always go their way. (Read Blog Post)
6. Realize that the T.V. shows your children watch, the music they listen to, and the friends they spend the most time with will influence their behavior- either positively or negatively. Kids imitate words and behavior. Be bold to make necessary changes, even if it’s inconvenient for you.
7. Be intentional about teaching your children right from wrong. Show them how to be courageous in doing right, even if everyone else is doing wrong.
8. Teach your children that the Bible is the moral standard of truth and shows us how to live. Everyone has free will to make choices, but rewards and punishment follow based on our decisions.
9. Remember that our kids, like us will never be perfect. They will make mistakes at times. Their actions might embarrass us occasionally. But we have to be committed to keep loving them always, being patient, and positively teaching them.
Resources for You:
Parenting Toolkits- These are simple lessons for parents to use to teach their children wisdom and knowledge to guide them and develop their character. Some lessons include teaching your children how to choose good friends and how to love and care about their siblings.
Vocabulary Cards-These are simple activity cards to help parents teach their children words about good character traits so they know what the words actually mean and can develop in these areas.
Music
“Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education.”
~Plato
Parent Tips
1. You can use music to teach your kids academic skills and to build good character in them. There are many talented music artists that have made songs with great lyrics and great beats!
2. Allow music to help you with your parenting. Music can do teaching for you if you are intentional about it. You can play songs that help your kids with their reading skills, math skills, positive character, Biblical principles, science skills, daily routines, hygiene, cleaning up, calming anxiety, developing courage, and more. You can stream these songs from your phone or music device.
3. Many songs that are played on the radio are too mature and not age-appropriate content for children to listen to. Even if they don’t fully understand what they are listening to, ideas are being planted in their mind which can effect their future actions as they get older.
4. Please be aware of what your kids are listening to. Kids repeat what they hear. Preserve and protect your children’s innocence.
Resources for You:
Fun Music Lists for Kids- These are lists of fun songs you can play from your phone or music device for your kids to learn and enjoy. You can create your own playlists on your phone.
Reading
“Kids need new books as often as they need new clothes. Just as their bodies grow and need new clothes, their minds grow and they need new books.”
~Jim Trelease
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
~Joseph Addison
Parent Tips
1. Create a love for books and challenge your children’s minds!
2. Encourage the joy of reading, starting at a young age.
3. Find appropriate books with topics that interest your children.
4. Teach your children that reading is an important skill they need for life, whether it’s something they enjoy doing or not.
5. Practice phonics, blending words, and comprehension skills with your children at home to enhance their reading.
6. Make sure they are reading books on their reading level and transitioning to the next level when they are ready.
7. Set up a home library in your home for your kids.
8. Use incentives if needed to encourage your children to read.
9. Take advantage of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program if available in your area for children ages birth to age 5. You have the opportunity to receive a free quality book each month.
10. Help your children expand their vocabulary by teaching them new words and their meanings.
Resources for You:
Reading Comprehension Questions- These have a list of books for your kids to read or you can read the story to them. There are comprehension questions for them to answer either orally or with writing.
Vocabulary Cards-These are simple activity cards to help parents teach their children new words and their meanings.