Posted by
Ed
13 yrs ago
“Fifteen-year-old students whose parents often read books with them during their first year of primary school show markedly higher scores in PISA 2009 than students whose parents read with them infrequently or not at all. The performance advantage among students whose parents read to them in their early school years is evident regardless of the family’s socioeconomic background. Parents’ engagement with their 15-year-olds is strongly associated with better performance in PISA.”
More http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-about-better-parents.html?_r=1
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Z
13 yrs ago
Doesn't do our society a blind bit of good to snidely blame parents as long as we are not making parenting courses a mandatory requirement before having children.
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ludma
13 yrs ago
Scores...Scores!! Scores!! I don't care if my children Score higher in the PISA !!! I just want ..to my Kids have fun...and be happy!! if they don't enjoy reading ....i just try to have happy kids, and let them do what they like and enjoy of course they are going to school like a normal kids...but I don't give any valiu to Scores!! because that don't mean they will be more o less succesufull in live!! you can be a shoe maker and be succesfull looks (Salvatore Ferragamo)
So I try my best to make them happy!! and play a lot!! this is the best time of their lives!!
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Oh great... more blame for the parents.... or should I say, mothers. Mothers who stay at home don't get much respect sometimes because they stay at home. Then they go out working. When they work in a society like HK, hours are not flexible and long hours are expected. Most HK employers don't understand they have children at home. So these mothers work two jobs - at work and they do what they can with the children when they get home. However, when they are tired and can't read to their kids, research like this tells them that their kids do poorly because of them.
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gemma, sounds like you have some unresolved guilt. the article doesn't indict mothers, rather points out that greater parental involvement in a child's life begets positive educational results - i don't know how you can argue with that.
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Unresolved guilt- oh yes.
Greater parental involvement - I agree.
But our society does not allow for greater parental involvement.
Unless we do something to change the mindset of the government and employers here, the article does nothing more than to increase the guilt of parents.
Why I say mothers is because in most household, a child's education is the mother's responsibility. Dads have some responsibility but it's mostly mothers.
It's more beneficial if our society say, "We have to change the way we live and allow mothers more flexi time/time offs because research has shown the benefits of spending more time with children".... rather than, "Look at this research. You have to do more than what's on your plate now". Coz believe it or not, most mothers like me will say, "Okay, I'm tired after a full day's work but I'm going to push myself because I don't want my kids to score poorly because I didn't make time for them". Unless you can stay home or come home early, most working mothers will find this article painful.
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Gemma, I agree with you & share your pain. I am a home stay mum & still struggle to find time to read to my kids. Education here in HK is so stressful that it takes us the whole evening doing homework. I don't get a chance to read as we rush dinner to get some decent sleep for the kids. I have 3 children at 6, 4 & 1. I am trying to read to my one year old during the day but she is not interested. My older daughter loves for me to read to her but I really do struggle. Only on Fri nights I make it a point that we read together. all this with me being a house mum so I can't imagine how it is like for the working mums.
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I have 2 teens, but when they were kids I used to read them before going to bed everyday. We used to read children books, with few pages and pictures, doing the character voices, etc but that means like 15 minutes stories. They knew they will take turns to choose the "bed time book" and after the story the light was off. Today I can say they enjoy reading for pleasure and they read a lot. I don't know about the scores but I just want to establish that we loved to have that time together.
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madtown, your comments are pretty harsh mate! Just b'cos I am a home stay mum does not make me sit there with nothing to do. I know there is 24hrs in the day but I manage to get 5 hrs of sleep out of it. I don't have a helper of any kind & have 3 children & have no car & loads of chores. Anyway, like Cara said my older 2 are nearly 7 & nearly 5. They both attend local schools as we can't afford the hefty fees for the international schools. We are also trying to be as local as we possibly could to get the real taste of living in HK. With that decision comes few sacrifices & problems I guess. My older daughter is in P1 & learning Cantonese, Phutungha & spanish. She has loads of homework & specially in Chinese. It takes us good 2 to 3 hrs to do just chinese alone as I have to figure it out with the help of books & internet & I-phone applications & my husbands collegues. Out of all this rush I am not in any shame to admit that I am more than happy for the night to end. This is just one daughter's homework let alone my K2 daughter's h/w. Anyway, don't get me wrong, I am not saying reading is not necessary but it is a struggle & an easy thing to say maybe tomorrow. I so much wish I was a better mum but every time I try, I feel more like a loser :(
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I do read a lot with my children, I always do their home reader, but try to make time for a story as well. However, with 3 kids in Primary it's hard. Plus I do believe sleep is my priority. A well-rested child will be a happier child and will perform better in school due to many obvious reasons. I hear way too often from teachers that (local) children are falling asleep in class, cannot concentrate and have trouble making it to the end of the day. My kids are in bed by 7.30/8.00 pm and wake up at 6.30 am, and they need 11 hours. They were exhausted by the time Christmas break comes. So yes, I make an effort to read an extra story but sleep is my priority. Well rested children are happier and healthier children.
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Agree with Mad town and Cara on schedules. Our 7 yr old is up at 6.30 am, comes back from school at 3 and in bed at 7.00 . How much can you squeeze in 4 hours between mon to fri. Most activities need commuting which means another hour in transit. We have restricted activities to once a week during school days. he is full of energy in the mornings loves to go to school and energetic in the afternoons. In comparison many friends have their kids going through the 4 activity/week routine where the kids are exhausted by the time they come home, exhausted and not too enthusiastic when going to school in the morning. With the helper culture active here, I know of parents who frequently leave kids home with helpers while they go on overseas holidays. In general kids brought up with full time mums have a very different set of skills when they grow up compared to the parents who have limited time. Our child was born in HK and we had to laugh when the Hospital Authority gave us a set of booklets on the Do's and Dont's of bringing up a child in HK. Another Govt sponsored project I guess where you bring up kids BY THE BOOK .
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Please define "good parent" and I'd be certain that all of us parents have failed to meet many aspects of the criteria. Each child is different and every situation in each of our lives is different. So, who is to proclaim what attributes are directly responsible for how a child turns out in life? So let us mere mortals be mortals and God be God. Don't start thinking that doing certain things and not others will lead you closer to being God, or "good parent."
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being a good parent is not easy. Reading book, sending kids to school, giving them good ethitic and have manners to any-one. As a kid for my own idea i dont want to push them to regarding scores as what the other say they are still young, every-one of us have our own time, play, school, work and pleasure. at 7 is the right age to develop, brain start to know more what is life. before 7 thier mind still developing. As I noticed when I walked around I saw many young kids/ mature age talking themselves alone like murmoring, as my opinion when they were young they are being to push to learn eventhough thier IQ is not really capable to do so. We have been gifted by GOD , whatever it is then we have to accept. So parent dont mind what others will say, as long that your kid love you , respect you. Life is precoius when youre getting older only your kids will look after you so dont be so pushy with them. Give them time to relax. although some kids are quite naughty but take a look, they learn from parents . So be respectful with kids and kids will respect U as well.. blessed new year 2012
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