5 Tips to Help Your Child (Especially Teens) Stay Engaged in School

If your pre-teen or teen is anything like mine, school is starting to get hard. The first few weeks were a breeze, assignments easy, no homework, and the excitement and optimism of a new year. But now we’re a month in…the content is new and challenging, homework is piling up, classes are getting “boring,” and there’s not a break in sight for almost two months. This is the time to help your child dig into school and prepare for a successful rest of the year. Here are 5 Tips to Help Your Child Stay Engaged in School.

1) Set them up for success at home. While your child spends much of their day at school, it’s often what happens at home that impedes learning or quickly tanks a grade when homework isn’t completed. Ensure your child has a quiet and comfortable spot to do homework and study without distractions. This means encouraging (sometimes enforcing) a no-cell-phone rule while doing homework or studying. The Child Mind Institute gives background on why phones can be so distracting for teens, and it offers some ideas on how to help your child limit those distractions.

2) Prioritize sleep. The most important thing you can do for your child at home, however, is to make sure they get plenty of sleep. According to the Centers for Disease Control, children and teens who don’t get enough sleep have higher risks of health concerns and problems with attention and behavior. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that children 6-12 years old get 9-12 hours of sleep per night, and teenagers 13-18 should sleep 8-10 hours. If your child isn’t getting this amount of sleep, you aren’t alone. The

CDC’s study showed that 6 out of 10 middle school students and 7 out of 10 high school students didn’t get enough sleep on school nights.

To help your child get more sleep, encourage and model healthy sleeping habits. For more information on this, see the CDC’s Tips for Better Sleep.

3) Help your child learn time management skills. Learning to manage time and prioritize commitments are essential skills that are needed far beyond middle school and high school. There is no one way to manage time or prioritize; it’s more about finding a method that works for your student. LifeHack’s article 20 Time Management Tips to Boost Productivity provides some great ideas to try.

Your teen may also be overscheduled and trying to do too much between school, clubs, sports, a part-time job, and family obligations. This is where you may need to step in and help your child prioritize activities to meet their future goals. Although all the extracurricular activities may look good on a college application, it won’t matter if the grades suffered because of them.

4) Pay attention to your child’s attendance, grades, and physical and mental health. As I’ve mentioned on this blog, attendance matters more than you might think in their academic success, even at a young age. Avoid vacations or letting your child stay home when they aren’t truly sick. Keep an eye on your child’s grades through whatever system their school has set up. Missing assignments and bad grades can quickly stack up to a hole that can’t be climbed out of, so encourage your child to turn work in even if it’s not complete. Partial credit is better than none.

Above all else, pay attention to your child’s mental health. Suicide is

the second-leading cause of death among 15-24-year-olds in the U.S., with almost 20% of high school students reporting serious thoughts of suicide, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. In addition, sleep disorders, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and substance abuse issues have increased in teens following the pandemic. Any mental health struggles can seriously impact school work and engagement in class. If you suspect your child is struggling with mental health, schedule an appointment with your doctor. NAMI offers numerous resources and guides to help you address mental health with your child.

5) Encourage your child to use all resources. If you ask what your child should do to be successful in class and stay engaged, most teachers will tell you to have your child come in and ask for help before they are desperate. Most middle and high schools set aside time in the schedule for teacher “office hours.” This time might be called SOAR, Access, Enrichment, WIN, or many other names, but this time is set aside for students to ask a teacher for help. In addition, teachers often make themselves available before or after school to meet one-on-one with students. Encourage your child to prepare for this time and get the most out of it by having a specific question in mind, a clear goal for the conversation, or an assignment to work through. Students should also avoid complaining about their grades or the teacher asking for help. Teachers may also provide additional online or in-person resources, such as a tutoring group or study guides. There is little that frustrates teachers more than a student not using the resources and time provided to be successful.

What questions do you have about your child’s school or educational system? I would love to hear from you and help you navigate the complex system of schools and K-12 learning; please comment below.