Helping children develop conversation skills Smile, make eye contact and use friendly greetings. Talk with your partner in positive ways, and handle conflict constructively. Use body language and tone of voice to show interest and attention when you talk to others. Learning how to talk with and listen to other people takes time and practice. Some children pick this up quickly, and others might need more practice, prompts, reminders and guidance. For example: Have practice conversations with your child where you take turns asking questions and listening to answers. Use clear and gentle reminders when you need to. Suggest how your child could begin a conversation about someone else’s interests. Suggest or brainstorm what your…

Quality time and family relationships Use everyday time together to talk and share a laugh. Have time together when devices are turned off and out of sight. This helps to keep everyone focused on what you’re doing or talking about at the time. Have one-on-one chats with each family member to strengthen individual relationships. Do regular, fun things together as a family. Positive communication and family relationships When your child or partner wants to talk, try to stop what you’re doing and listen with full attention. Give people time to express their points of view or feelings. Be open to talking about difficult things – like mistakes – and all…

Self-compassion is being kind to yourself even when things don’t happen the way you expect. It’s being aware of your feelings and treating yourself with the same warmth, care and understanding you’d give to someone you care about. When children learn to treat themselves with self-compassion, they: are happier have more confidence and self-esteem are more likely to try new things or try again when things don’t work out the first time have more resilience, so they can ‘bounce back’ during or after difficult times. Building self-compassion in children: three steps: Step 1 Pause and notice when your child is angry, frustrated or disappointed because things haven’t gone the way they wanted and they’re being…

1. Notice and identify the emotion If your child looks like they need help to calm down, stop. Pay attention to what your child’s behaviour is telling you about their feelings before you do or say anything else. You can do this by: looking closely at your child watching their body language listening to what your child is saying. For example, if you ask your child to turn off the TV and have a shower, your child might ignore you, or roll around on the floor and complain loudly. This gives you a clue that your child is feeling angry. 2. Name and connect the emotion what they’re feeling and why how…

Language Educators suggest that children spend some time during the June holidays reading a variety of text types, from storybooks to newspapers to even comics. This will help them to improve their writing style while picking up new words and phrases, which are useful in composition and comprehension. When children enjoy what they are reading, their language proficiency naturally improves. It is also a relaxing way to expose the child’s brain to different styles of writing and the various forms of sentence construction. Mathematics Aspire Hub’s Mr Seah says pupils should reduce an over-reliance on calculators by mastering mental sums. This will help them to increase the accuracy of calculation…

SINGAPORE – With just four months to go till the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE), it is a good time to consolidate your child’s revision regimen this June holidays. Q: My child did reasonably well in his mid-year exams. What now? A: Doing reasonably well in the mid-year exams is an affirmation of a child’s diligence, effective study habits and keen grasp of examination strategies, says Mr Samuel Seah, co-founder of Aspire Hub Education Group, a tuition school. He suggests that these pupils evaluate their mid-year exam papers and note down skills and concepts they may not have fully understood, so that they can revisit these topics during revision. Q: If…

Learning maths doesn’t begin and end in the classroom. Your child has been learning about maths since she was born. And once your child starts school, you still have a big role in helping her continue to build maths and numeracy skills. Here are some ways that you can support your child in learning maths skills at home at all ages: Ask about what maths topics your child is learning at school and talk about how maths can help with everyday activities. Be available to help your child with maths revision. Use objects, words, numbers, pictures, drawings or symbols to help your child understand maths problems. Encourage your child to show you how…

Our minds are constantly active. You might be watching television – but also thinking about the past, or worrying about something, or wondering what you’re going to have for dinner. Mindfulness is about stilling your active mind. It has been defined in several ways, including: giving your complete attention to the present on a moment-by-moment basis paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, without judgment. Everyday mindfulness You can use everyday moments to build and practise mindfulness. The more you practise, the more benefit you’ll get. You can also encourage your child to build mindfulness. In many ways, this is just about getting your child to…

Mental health is the way children think and feel about themselves and the world around them. It affects how children cope with life’s challenges and stresses. Relationships and good mental health for children Here are some ideas to promote your child’s mental health and wellbeing through a loving and supportive relationship: Tell your child that you love them, no matter what. You can also show love through your body language and nonverbal communication. Use a positive, constructive and consistent approach to guide your child’s behaviour. Make time every day to talk and listen to your child. Enjoy time with your child doing activities they like. Work on positive ways to solve problems and…

Resilience is the ability to ‘bounce back’ during or after difficult times and get back to feeling as good as before. It’s also the ability to adapt to difficult circumstances that you can’t change and keep on thriving. Personal values and attitudes for building resilience Self-respect is a great building block for resilience. Self-respect grows out of setting standards for behaviour. If your child has self-respect, she believes that she matters and should be treated respectfully by others. She’s also more likely to protect herself by avoiding risky behaviour and situations. A strong sense of self-respect will also help your child be less vulnerable to bullies and bullying. Social skills for resilience…