Building Good Study Habits in Early Childhood

Good study habits start in early childhood. Children who learn to cut out distractions and focus their attention will develop a strong study “muscle” that serves them well in high school and college. As a parent, you can set your children up for success by catering to their physical needs and developing consistent routines.

Utilizing the best that online tutoring and Ed-Tech have to offer are important steps to ensuring your child has the tools they need to build good study habits throughout their entire educational journey.

Physical Needs for Study Habits

Young children don’t yet understand the connection between their physical well-being and their ability to learn and focus on mental tasks. As a parent, you can make it easier for young children to adopt healthy study habits by taking care of their physical needs.

Start by ensuring that your child gets enough sleep. Young children need 10-12 hours of sleep to develop properly and to ensure that they can focus on their studies. So, set a regular bedtime for your child and keep them on the same sleep schedule throughout the whole week.

Your child also needs to eat healthy foods and drink plenty of water throughout the day. Eating poorly can cause mental fatigue, and breakfasts or lunches high in carbs or sugar can cause afternoon slumps due to spikes in energy levels. Instead of sugary snacks and cereal, provide your child with a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, grains, and a variety of proteins.

Ensuring that you cater to your child’s physical needs alleviates many of the challenges associated with studying, and helps you create a consistent routine that they will stick to.

Creating a Routine

Children do best when they know what to expect, and a daily schedule that involves learning will strengthen their study habits.

A good study routine should be consistent. Choose a regular time of day to study with your child and always study in the same place. For example, if your child is at a kindergarten or Pre-K during the day, you should choose a study time in the late afternoon and settle down somewhere with plenty of space like a kitchen table.

You can figure out the best time to study based on your child’s mood and energy levels. If you notice that they’re tuckered out after kindergarten or Pre-K, give them some time to rest and take care of their physical needs by feeding them and giving them plenty of water. Don’t leave it too late, though, as kids may start to lose focus as the evening draws on.

Managing Study Stress

Studying can cause real stress in children. Some children find kindergarten and Pre-K extremely taxing and have a hard time keeping up with their peers in the classroom. If you notice that your child is extremely stressed due to schoolwork, it may be worth seeing a pediatrician who can help identify learning difficulties and suggest solutions.

You can also help manage study-related stress by creating a low-stakes environment and encouraging your child with positive feedback. This is particularly important if your child is a little behind other kids, as academic setbacks can cause stress levels to rise and make children seize up when studying.

Remember that not all learning has to occur at a desk. Sometimes exercise and activity can become a part of your child’s routine and help them develop good study habits. Consider taking the study session outside to illustrate ideas from geography classes and kinesiology. This will help build a positive association between studying and happiness and help relax children who are excessively stressed due to schoolwork.

Online Tutoring

As a parent, you are probably busy with your own work and outside responsibilities. This makes it difficult to preside over every study session your child has. Additionally, as your child grows older, you may not have answers to all the questions involved in their school work.

It’s perfectly acceptable to outsource your child’s study time and opt for online tutoring sessions. Online tutoring at home puts your child in touch with brilliant educators from all over the world and provides an innovative and interactive learning experience for children of all ages.

Online tutoring is a worthwhile supplement to your child’s study routine, but it isn’t without challenges. You’ll need to check in on children who are taking tutoring classes online to ensure that they aren’t surfing the web, and you must find a reputable, skilled tutor that you trust to deliver consistently high-quality study sessions for your child.

Conclusion

Many children do not learn good study habits until later in their school career. This makes it difficult to implement a productive study routine and can be detrimental to children’s academic careers. Instead, build good study habits in early childhood by providing a consistent daily routine of learning and homework. Instilling proper study techniques now will serve students well when the move up to secondary school.

You can make studying easier by feeding young children a healthy, balanced diet to promote well-being and focus. If you’re too busy to study with your child, take advantage of reputable online tutors who know how to deliver an interactive learning experience.

About the Author
Katie Brenneman is a passionate writer specializing in education, mental health, family lifestyle and online safety. When she isn’t writing, you can find her with her nose buried in a book or hiking with her dog, Charlie. You can follow her on Twitter.