Powerful questions for parents to ponder
Ahhh December … full of winter festivities and celebrations … AND report cards! These too hopefully will provide your family a reason to celebrate. However, regardless of the marks and comments contained within, report cards do provide an excellent opportunity to reflect on the skills, strategies (and barriers) which may have lead to the marks reported.
As a teacher and Parenting & Youth Coach, I am often asked by parents. “What can I do to help my child be more successful next term?” So this month I would like to offer you a list of 31 powerful questions to ponder and/or discuss with your kids, in the hope they may lead the way to continued or even greater success next term:
1. How do you define “success”? What does it look / sound / feel like?
2. Do you and your child share the same vision of success, or is there a gap?
3. What specific goals did you and your child discuss at the beginning of the term?
4. How achievable did your child feel these goals were?
5. What specific strategies did you discuss or put into place to achieve them?
6. How does the report card (reality) compare to the specific goals (vision) you set?
7. Were your goals realistic or idealistic?
8. How well do you and your child understand the value of an A, B, C, & D as they are now used?
9. What indicators did you or your child use to determine if he/she was “on-course” throughout the term?
10. What action did you take around low marks on tests or assignments this term?
11. When, how, and who did your child ask for help?
12. What sort of reaction did they get?
13. Have you discussed how mistakes are expected and valuable if we learn from them?
14. How often did you solve your children’s problems for them?
15. When did you let your children experience logical consequences for their actions or inactions?
16. How can you help your child take ownership of problems?
17. What is your family’s homework routine?
18. What does or can your child do if there is no assigned homework?
19. How effective are your child’s homework and study routines?
20. Do they know what / how / when / with whom to study?
21. How well did you and the teachers communicate with each other this term?
22. If required, how could you improve communication?
23. How do you celebrate even small successes each term?
24. How many areas of the report card are realistic to try to change next term?
25. What will or should your child do differently next term?
26. Do you and your child have a plan?
27. Can you help show them what they did wrong?
28. What strategies can you share with them to try?
29. What boundaries or limits might need to be put in place?
30. How will you let them know you believe in them?
31. How will you define success this term?
• Interested in more support or having Rob speak at your child’s school? Visit www.ParentingWithIntention.ca or www.YouthCoachCanada.com for details.
