Expert: Parents should use school breaks as an opportunity to reconnect with children
Dec 23, 2015, 5:00 AM
Stacey Jacobson-Francis works on math homework with her 6 year old daughter Luci Wednesday, May 14, 2014, at their home in Berkeley, Calif. As schools around the U.S. implement national Common Core learning standards, parents trying to help their kids with math homework say that adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing has become as complicated as calculus. Stacey Jacobson-Francis, 41, of Berkeley, California, said her daughter’s homework requires her to know four different ways to add. “That is way too much to ask of a first grader. She can’t remember them all, and I don’t know them all, so we just do the best that we can,” she said. (AP Photo)
(AP Photo)
Now that kids are off on school-break, there is a lot of free time for parents to fill.
Beth Maloney, Arizona’s 2014 Teacher of the Year, said it is important to strike a balance between fun and educational activities.
“Like all things involving parenting, I think it’s very important to strike the right balance during winter break between educational activities and just some good old fashion playtime and relaxation,” she said.
The Sunset Hills Elementary teacher said school breaks are a really good time to build kids’ life experience, which is a large part of their education.
“Take time as a family over winter break to really engage…since we tend to have a little bit more down time,” she said.
For example, Maloney said take a time-honored family tradition and reinvent it for the children to use in the future.
“We know as parents life moves so fast and you blink and all of a sudden they’re 10 years older,” she said. “It’s so important to take these small moments over winter break or any kind of break, to kind of swoop in and really enjoy precious moment with these kids as they’re growing up.”
Parents can do other activities like taking the family on a walk, to a museum or to write letters to their grandparents, she said.
Maloney also stressed the importance of regulating sleeping schedules, which can take up to a week for kids to readjust to.
“If you want to avoid the tears going back to school in January it’s really good to stick to your basic schedule of at least going to bed at a reasonable hour and waking up at a reasonable hour,” she said.
Maloney said parents should also remove themselves from the stress of the holidays and make sure they are not plopping their children in front of electronic devices for too long.
“Even though it’s winter break it’s really important to kind of set those boundaries and structure, for game time and technology time,” she said. “But really give the chance to unplug and get away from the electronics a little bit.”
