Parents often don’t realize that when their child gets bored with school, their grades usually suffer. Once the report cards come in, and the poor grades are shown, parents of these bored children will more than likely, freak out, and yell at their child. This is not help the situation, so instead of getting angry at the child, parents should realize that learning to make a boring situation like school more fun and interesting (and sometimes this can be achieved by challenging the child) is the most important thing for the child’s learning environment. If you want to make sure school isn’t boring (although your child might answer that he or she finds it boring, but in a tedious chore way and not the “I-find-school-to-be-easy” bored way), here are some questions to ask your child to assess if he or she is bored at school.
• “Are you caught up with your school work and homework?”
Students that don’t understand or can’t follow along with what his or her teacher is lecturing are more than likely to be bored than students who follow along with the lecture.
• “Do you sometimes not pay attention?” Asking this question will make your child realize that they are probably bored in class because they are not consciously making an effort in paying attention.
• “How are you doing in class? Do you have trouble understanding something?” These two questions ensure that you don’t get a “I’m bored” reply out of your child, and if your child’s grades aren’t what they need to be, you should contact the Study Hut (Manhattan Beach: (310) 546-2408 or Redondo Beach: (310) 540-5888) to get your child the tutoring he or she needs.
• “Do you participate in class discussions or activities?” You should encourage your child to actively participate in class discussions or activities. Children who participate in class are less likely to be bored while in class than those who don’t actively participate.
• “Do you ask your teacher questions?” Asking questions requires thinking and participating, which will leave your child to be less bored than ones who don’t speak. You should encourage your child to ask questions in class whenever possible. If your child can’t think of one at the time, or did not get the opportunity to ask the teacher a question, encourage him or her to write down his or her questions after talking about them, and tell your child to ask the question(s) during the next day of class.
• “Do you take notes while the teacher lectures?” Taking notes while the teacher is talking will increase a student’s involvement in the class, thus lowering his or her boredom.
Although I can’t guarantee that these tips will work for your child or turn attending class into an exciting adventure, I do encourage you both to try them out to see if they will work for you. In hindsight, I realize that I was bored at school during my teen years because I did not actively participate in class, wasn’t consciously and actively paying attention while in class, and I rarely asked my teachers questions; I only focused on doing homework and writing notes, yet I still found myself bored at times. So I encourage you to ask your child to try these tips to see if it will help ease boredom at school.
