Modeling academic excellence in children involves identifying and cultivating and habits and skills associated with compounded academic improvement and achievement of the set academic goals. As a parent, you play a key role in this process by nurturing and helping your child acquire, develop and apply habits and skills that will make it possible to attain the mutually agreed upon academic goals. This is a journey that stretches over two decades. It is therefore imperative to be strategic, remain committed, persistent and above all, help your child celebrate victories along the way and offer your guidance when your child encounters setbacks.

Here are some ways to model academic excellence in your child.

1. Be available 

If you aspire to model academic excellence in your child, your presence is mandatory. You cannot disciple your child without making a conscious choice to streamline your activities and prioritise time to spend with your child. Being available goes beyond physical presence. It encompasses the following forms of presence:

a) Mental availability – This is the conscious ongoing deliberation to plan, strategise and decide how you will influence your child’s growth and development including the academic, spiritual, personal, and social journey. Just as you prioritize your other key life goals, parenting should be given greater importance as well.

b) Physical presence – This involves making and spending enough time with your child. Your child needs your influence, guidance and support during his academic years. Research shows that children whose parents are present and involved report better academic grades compared to children with little or no parental support.

c) Emotional availability – Emotional availability refers to an individual’s capacity and willingness to engage in emotionally supportive and responsive in your interactions with your child. It involves being present, attuned, and also being able to understand and respond to the emotional needs of your child in a timely manner. Active listening, unconditional love, being compassionate and cultivating emotional regulation are some ways to demonstrate emotional presence.

Cultivating a mental, physical and emotional presence in your child also goes a long way in helping your child remain attached to you. This makes it easier for her to be open with you whenever she encounters academic challenges in life as opposed to withdrawing or seeking help from unhelpful sources.

2. Cultivate a love of reading 

Reading is not a natural part of human development. Unlike spoken language, it does not follow from observation and imitation of other people. There are specific regions of the brain devoted to speech and processing oral communication, yet there is no specific center of the brain dedicated to reading. For children to become joyful, successful readers, they need to develop the neural pathways that connect the parts of the brain that turn print into words and words into thoughts and memories. This is an arduous task by the mere fact that deliberate action is required to develop a love of learning.

It is an open secret that an insatiable love for reading is the foundation of the attainment of academic excellence. Developing a love for reading can greatly enhance your child’s knowledge, imagination and overall improvement in academic standing. Many parents are ardent bedtime story readers but stop once their children start schooling. Losing this intimate reading time together makes it challenging to nurture a love for reading.

Sustaining a love for reading requires a deliberate effort in providing guidance, structure and support. To do this, start by creating or maintaining a reading routine, encouraging your child to read a topic that interests her, taking her to a physical library, explore different sources of obtaining information e.g. videos, audiobooks, etc. All these efforts add up to help your child acquire and sustain a love for reading.

3. Look out for – and encourage – effective study habits

As you spend time with your growing child, there are best practices, tips and advice you and his teachers instill in him to make his studying more effective. Most of these effective study habits will be evident between the ages of 10 and 18 when the child is gaining and exercising his independence. If you consistently instill and encourage the following good study habits in your child, he will be confident in taking ownership of his studies.

• Proper time management and planning for revision (a timetable goes a long way in helping achieve this)
• Self-diagnosing your child’s weak areas on a regular basis and teaching him to do so independently
• Show your child how to research answers in books, online and by asking for explanations from teachers or other students.
• Encourage your child to know the course contents of each subject she is taking i.e. the chronological order of all the topics, and subtopics. This helps with ease of reference and understanding the material
• Help your child understand and always practice exam best practices
• Encourage your child to self-test as often as possible
• Ensure that your child attends all lessons and seeks complementary material as not everything is covered in class

4. Encourage a growth mindset

“A growth mindset is when students understand that their abilities can be developed,” (Dweck, 2014). This is the most important armor when you embark on a journey to model academic excellence in your child. Truth is, only a small minority of learners are academically talented. The vast majority require a consistent revision and study plan to elevate and sustain their academic grades.

Adopting a growth mindset and instilling it in your child aids in a gradual climb toward academic goals. An effective method is to encourage your child to improve in small steps as elucidated in point 9 below. Criticising, shaming and expressing frustration when your child’s progress is slow is not helpful at all. Always strive to be sensitive to your child’s self-esteem by being compassionate as you offer your feedback.

When your child can witness himself gradually improving, he is motivated to keep up the effort. He learns to believe in his ability to improve and this gives him confidence in his schooling years.

5. Encourage diligent effort 

Hard work is a fundamental ingredient for achieving academic excellence. It is the persistent and dedicated effort put into one’s studies that leads to success. Academic excellence requires a strong work ethic, discipline, and a willingness to go the extra mile. Simply put, it is the result of consistent hard work over time. By diligently completing assignments, engaging in active learning, and seeking additional challenges, students can expand their knowledge and skills, and ultimately achieve academic excellence.

Modeling hard work in children is crucial for their long-term success. Parents and educators play a vital role in instilling the value of hard work in young minds. Firstly, setting high expectations for children and encouraging them to strive for excellence can motivate them to put in the necessary effort. By emphasizing the importance of consistent effort and perseverance, children can learn to appreciate the value of hard work. Also, regularly check your child’s class work to ascertain her class attendance, class work + assignment completion and how she fairs on compared to her peers.

By modeling hard work in children through high expectations, a supportive environment, and personal examples, parents and educators can help cultivate the necessary mindset and habits for academic success. Ultimately, instilling the value of hard work in children sets them on a path toward a fulfilling and accomplished academic journey.

6. Provide a conducive and supportive home environment 

Your child will spend most of his years at home. It is wise to create an environment that will nurture his physical, emotional, intellectual and social well-being. Besides providing material support, a child needs to grow up in a warm emotional environment that will nurture and nourish his emotional well-being. When a child’s emotional being is well catered for, more mental and intellectual resources are channeled toward academic improvement.

A conducive physical learning environment includes a dedicated area or desk for studying with optimal lighting, providing learning and reference materials, having a study schedule, etc. Also, requiring courtesy from family members – for example reducing noise, especially from electronics – is part of creating a conducive study environment.

Encourage your child to engage in regular physical exercise to help him stay alert and energized moreso during holidays. Schools offer games times and PE lessons for this particular reason and you should include it too. Also, engage the mental stimulation of your child via puzzles, selected online games or learning a new skill. Remember all work without play makes Jack a dull boy.

7. Forge a network

We all need help. As you help your child achieve academic excellence, you will quickly realise that you have limits on the help that you are able to give. Therefore, having a network of people to help you is beneficial both to you and your child. This network might include teachers, role models, a tutor or your child’s friends with whom they form a study group.

The advantage of a network is that it offers accountability and much-needed help where you are stuck. Notwithstanding, these networks offer help, support and guidance during school holidays when children are home. Most parents engage a tutor to help their children with private remedial classes over the holidays. Also, some schools have mentoring programs in which a handful of pupils are paired with a mentor. Seek to find out how your child fairs within this smaller and more intimate group and keep in touch with the mentor when during holidays to help your child learn how to be accountable.

Having a network is very key. It facilitates knowledge sharing, collaboration, support, and access to professional opportunities. By encouraging your child to actively engage with a network of peers, mentors, and professionals, she can enhance her learning experience, stay motivated, explore new opportunities, and maximize her academic potential.

8. Encourage adequate sleep

Sleep is very vital in the growth and development of human beings across all ages. Children need more sleep than adults. During sleep, the body is able to do a lot of things like repair, regulate hormones and stimulate growth to name a few. One of the most important things that happen during sleep is solidifying what was learned during the day in memory.

The more adequate sleep the child has, the better the brain is able to store the learned material in memory. This, coupled with optimal rest helps the child be alert and open to learning new things or better understand a topic that was hard at first. To help your child have a deep undisturbed sleep, serve an early dinner, reduce screentime before bedtime, or completely eliminate during school nights and limit caffeine as these interrupt the deep sleep required for the brain to form memories. Worse, poor sleep leads to fatigue and restlessness the following day making it hard for the child to concentrate.

9. Regularly review mutually agreed-upon expectations

Expectation is a strong belief that something will happen or be the case. In a schooling child, the expectation is to attain academic excellence. The best expectation is one that factors in the academic capabilities, willingness and motivation of a child, alongside your support and that of his teachers, role models, etc. Expecting a below-average performer to top his class overnight is an example of unrealistic expectations. However, encouraging the child to move 2- 6 positions upwards in class is not only manageable but also sustainable.

Regularly reviewing these expectations helps in understanding the evolving needs of the child as well as acknowledging the improvements, addressing a drop or setting newer expectations. Keep these expectations alive and amend them as iften as possible as you work towards your child’s highest academic potential.

As a reminder, allow your child time to talk about his experiences, what works for her, and the help she needs to attain her best-set target. The more she feels heard and understood, the more open she will be to listen to your advice and that of the teachers. Also, she will be motivated to work hard knowing that she has your full support.

10. Limit exposure to activities and substances that may lead to addiction

Addiction is an inability to stop using a substance or engaging in a behaviour even though it is causing psychological and physical harm.

Anything or any substance that alters the natural working of the brain and body poses a danger not only in the academic performance of your child but also to his mental, physical and emotional well-being. As discussed prior, providing a conducive environment encompassing emotional, physical and mental needs ought to be each parent’s top priority.

A child who feels loved and cared for by his parents does not easily fall into addictive behaviours. Several studies show that a warm and supportive parental relationship may play a role in reducing the likelihood of children, especially adolescents, engaging in substance use.

Addiction greatly damages the brain which is required for learning. As pointed out above, stimulants like caffeine affect the brain and can lead to sleep disturbances and addiction, especially in teen-aged children who rely upon the stimulants to stay alert or late into the night studying. Other more potent, highly addictive and harmful stimulants include cocaine, amphetamines, and nicotine.

Always encourage your child to get energy by streamlining his activities, physical exercise, a healthy diet and plenty of sleep. There is no victory in raising a child who is academically endowed but addicted to stimulants, has poor self-esteem or has no social life. Aim to protect your child from addictive behaviours, people who might enable this, and substances that might lead to addiction.

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