How to Study

5. Turn off the TV. Or at the very least, severely limit when
and how much TV-watching is appropriate. This may be the
toughest suggestion to enforce. I know. I’m the parent of a
teenager. 
6. Talk to the teachers. Find out what your kids are supposed
to be learning. If you don’t know the books they’re supposed
to be reading, what’s expected of them in class, and how
much homework they should be scheduling, you can’t really
give them the help they need. 
7. Encourage and motivate, but don’t nag them to do their
homework. It doesn’t work. The more you insist, the quicker
they will tune you out. 
How to Study
xii

---

8. Supervise their work, but don’t fall into the trap of doing
their homework. Checking (i.e., proofreading) a paper, for
example, is a positive way to help your child in school. But if
you simply put in corrections without your child learning from
her mistakes, you’re not helping her at all…except in the belief
that she is not responsible for her own work. 
9. Praise them when they succeed, but don’t overpraise them
for mediocre work. Kids know when you’re being insincere
and, again, will quickly tune you out. 
10. Convince them of reality. (This is for older students.) 
Okay, I’ll admit it’s almost as much of a stretch as turning off
the TV, but learning and believing that the real world will not
care about their grades, but will measure them by what they
know and what they can do, is a lesson that will save many
tears (probably yours). It’s probably never too early to (care-
fully) let your boy or girl genius get the message that life is 
not fair. 
11. If you can afford it, get your kid(s) a computer and all 
the software they can handle. There really is no avoiding it:
Your kids, whatever their ages, absolutely must be computer-
savvy in order to survive in and after school.