Parents who help their children with homework and are strict about sickies give their children the best start in life.

Parents who let their children stay home from school only when they are “really sick” have sons and daughters who perform better in maths and vocabulary, an Australian study has shown.

It shows that even in the most disadvantaged areas, parental involvement can have a significant impact on children’s education.

Melbourne mum Penelope Anastasiadis regularly helps her nine-year-old daughter Elizabeth with school work. But she knows when to stop.

“It’s great to help out, but doing their homework for them, I’m completely against. How are they supposed to learn?” she said.

Instead she makes sure her daughter makes a start on it herself. “We let her try it, but we’ll look over the work once she’s done,” she said.

A Griffith University study considered parental involvement to be monitoring homework, reading with your children, attending P&C
meetings, taking your child to the library and attending parent-teacher
interviews.

Even a parent’s attitude to school attendance leads to better results.

The Smith Family general manager Heather Le Roy said attendance was critical. “Parents are putting their child first,” she said.

“Every parent needs to make that critical decision by checking the temperature of their child’s forehead.

“But it’s also important that children attend school. We know that there is a strong link between attendance and education outcomes.”

The research found that parents who led by example, by reading at home, tended to have children who performed better in reading comprehension at school.

These children also displayed better vocabulary than other children in the
group.

The study focused on children in years three to five across seven state schools.

Researcher Samantha Batchelor said the data was taken from a highly disadvantaged Queensland community.

“It’s showing that even in difficult circumstances, parents’ involvement can
help children at school,” she said.

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Source: Herald Sun – http://tinyurl.com/2uu35za