5 Simple Tips to Help Your Child Finish the School Year Strong
The end of the school year can bring a mix of emotions for children, from saying goodbye to teachers and classmates to facing uncertainties about the year ahead. Supporting your child through this transition is key to easing their anxieties and helping them embrace the changes. Here are some simple strategies to create a positive closure to the school year and prepare for what's next.
Finishing the school year can come with all sorts of mixed emotions for your child. Farewelling loved teachers, separating from classmates and the fear of the unknown new school year. The best way to help ease end of year anxieties is to put good closure on the current school year. Below are some simple suggestions that may guide you in this area. It's all about helping your child through the transition of school, holidays and school again.
Consider:
1. Set End-of-Year Goals
Encourage your child to set small, specific goals for their final weeks, like I improving in a subject, finishing a project, or mastering a skill. Celebrate every achievement—it builds confidence and momentum.
2. Organize and Review
Help your child clean out their backpack, locker, or study space. Reviewing old notes and assignments reinforces their learning. It is also a chance to revisit special moments.
3. Show Gratitude to Teachers
Writing a thank-you note or small gesture of appreciation teaches your child kindness and helps build lasting connections with their teachers. Discuss who else in the life of the child should be thanked for their successful school year?
4. Reflect on Successes
Take time to discuss your child’s favourite moments from the year. What were they proud of?What did they enjoy most? This positive reflection encourages growth and gratitude
5. Plan for the Next Step
Talk about what’s coming: next summer plans, the next class, or a new school. This helps your child transition with excitement and purpose.
End the school year on a high note by encouraging your child to finish with focus, appreciation, and enthusiasm! Once school is finished, time to make that clear separation from school and holidays. Everybody needs it.
“Closing the school year well prepares your child for a fresh start in the new year.”
Teach your child to set goals. It is a great life skill.
The more your child develops their independence by relying less on others and more on themselves, the more they become inclined to set their own personal goals with confidence and determination. In her insightful discussion, Gail Smith shares some practical and effective suggestions to help your child in this important area of growth and self-discovery.
Sometimes the thought of setting up goals can be daunting. If however, you teach your child to start small and build up slowly, their expectations will grow steadily and they will gradually see the fruits of their labour. Once feeling success from setting goals the interest grows in setting up more goals.
Here are some suggestions to help your child in this area. The examples are helpful to put goal setting in context.
Start Small
Encourage setting small, achievable goals to build confidence.
• Example: "This week, let's try to clean up your toys every day before dinner."
Lead by Example
Show them how you set and achieve your own goals.
• Example: "I want to read one book this month. What goal can you set for yourself?"
Break Big Goals into Steps
Teach them to divide larger goals into manageable tasks.
• Example: "You want to finish your school project. Let's start by gathering materials today."
Celebrate Progress
Recognize and reward efforts to keep motivation high.
• Example: "You practised piano for 10 minutes every day this week—let's celebrate with a special treat!"
Make Goals Fun
Turn goal-setting into a game or challenge.
• Example: "Let’s see if you can improve your running time by 10 seconds each week. We'll keep track together!"
Teach Reflection
Encourage them to think about what worked and what didn't after achieving (or not achieving) their goal.
• Example: "You finished your book! How did breaking it into chapters help you reach your goal?"
Encourage Long-term Goals
Help them think ahead and set goals that take longer to achieve.
• Example: "You want to learn to ride a bike without training wheels. Let’s practice for 15 minutes every day."
Provide Support and Guidance
Offer help without doing it for them, so they feel ownership of their goals.
• Example: "I'll help you study for your spelling test, but you can choose the words you need to practice."
In simple ways you can use goals setting as a way of life. The more your child grows independent of relying less on others and more on themselves, the more they are inclined to set their own goals with confidence.
“Be a goal setter in your own life and see how your child will easily adapt to such habits.”
Let's get our kids involved in sport and fitness
Creating a love for physical activities and sports in your child starts at home. Gail Smith shares her insights on encouraging kids to get involved in sports and fitness, helping them build a lifelong love for being active.
As a family you can have quite an influence on your child developing a love for physical activities and sport. Your home can become an active environment where sport and fitness are highly valued as lifestyles. As a result, your child will see that enjoying and participating in sport is a way of life.
Consider:
Be Active Together: Set aside time for family activities like biking, hiking, or playing catch. Seeing you enjoy physical activity will inspire them to join in.
Find Their Interest: Expose them to various sports and activities to see what they enjoy most. Whether it is soccer, swimming, or dance, finding something they love increases their motivation. They will one it if they choose it!
Celebrate Efforts, Not Just Wins: Praise their participation and effort in sports, not just victories. This builds confidence and demonstrates simply the joy of being involved.
Create a Fun Environment: Make physical activity fun with games and playful challenges. Organize neighbourhood play dates or mini-tournaments with their friends. Use your backyard for sporty games with balls. Netball rings etc.
Set a Routine: Incorporate regular physical activity into their daily schedule. Consistency will breed more interest in repeating the activities.
Limit Screen Time: Encourage breaks from screens by setting specific times for physical activities. This can be all part of your weekly home routine.
Involve Their Friends: Arrange play dates or group activities with their friends. Children are more likely to engage in sports if their friends are participating too.
Join a Local Team or Class: Sign them up for local sports teams or classes. Being part of a team provides structure, social interaction, and a sense of belonging, which can be very motivating. Share in the sports activities by being a coach or becoming a member of the club etc.
Set Goals and Track Progress: Help them set achievable goals and track their progress. Celebrate milestones, no matter how small, to keep them motivated and focused. Smaller and more frequent goals are the best.
Active family conversation: Be a family that enjoys talking about sports. Celebrate some great achievements that you hear about such as the Matildas and Australia winning international events etc.
Watch out for the doubtful Thomas in your child
It is quite natural to doubt yourself. However, with children it is all about building their self confidence and capacity to have a go at whatever challenges them. This is an important part of parent’s work, to reassure our children that they are capable beings and can develop the skills to rise above fears and doubts. We help them in many ways by reassuring them and praising them when successful.
Whilst all of our encouragement is helpful and has value, it is also about giving children strategies to use when they feel doubtful. After all, we can reassure our child that they are capable but what is better is to teach them how to manage doubtful feelings once they recognise they have them.
When you own the responsibility of taking control of your own feelings, you are more successful at managing them. It also brings greater satisfaction in the long run.
When a child has doubts about their capabilities in some area remind them that doubtful feelings is normal and that there are several ways to get on top of those feelings.
Firstly, ask the child to openly talk about their doubt. This is about bringing it out in the open for discussion.
“I don’t think I can pass that test. It will be too hard.”
Ask them to give the doubt feeling a number out of ten. Then talk about times when the child has had success and passed similar tests.
Now set a goal that is attainable…for example:
“I will try to do my best so that I have had a go just like everybody else.”.
The goal is to get them to think about achieving part of the goal. After the test check in to see how the goal went and ask what number they would now give themselves in doubting themselves.
Another example is when a child thinks they cannot run well in a race.
What number do they give the doubt?
Set a small goal.
“I will try my best and just get to the end.”
It‘s all about setting small goals that help them begin to break down the doubt.
Always remember to check in after they have worked to their goal. This is the time to reflect on how successful they were in managing the doubt.
In working with children, it was quite common to discuss the degree of doubt they had and then set a small goal to chip away at the lack of confidence. It was always important to come back together and celebrate the child’s achievements, no matter how small.
Whilst we praise and reassure our children of their capabilities, the more we teach them to manage their doubts, the better equipped they are to cope independently.
“Successful people have fears.
Successful people have doubts and successful people have worries.
They just don’t let these feelings stop them.”
T Harv Eker.
It is quite natural to doubt yourself! However, with children it is all about building their self confidence
Setting goals is all about helping a child plan well.
Is setting goals something that you do during your week?
Indirectly or directly we are always planning ahead and we understand that in order to achieve certain outcomes by the end of the week, we need to complete some goals. For example, if we want to have a special dinner party on the weekend, we know that we need to plan the menu, purchase items, etc. Sometimes, we are unaware that we actually set goals for ourselves. We become very efficient at processing how to get our needs met. This article is about helping our child to value the planning process and to recognise how setting goals gives us better control of ourselves and helps us in self discipline.
At the beginning of the week ask the child what they would like to achieve perhaps at school by the end of the week. Once they give some indication of what they would like to achieve, talk about setting a pathway to get to that point. For example, your child may be really keen to play soccer after school on Thursday. That is their goal. Tell them that this is a goal. Ask them what do they need to do before they can achieve that goal? Perhaps it is complete homework, do a few chores, exercise etc. Here we are simply encouraging the child to set realistic goals. When they achieve their goals, they gain the satisfaction of celebrating their contributions. They also own the process of achieving their goal.
Teachers are very well aware that when a child sets goals in their work, they discuss with them the steps to be taken to reach that goal. For example, if a child wants their spelling to improve they may set up a plan to learn words each night, get parents to hear them, etc. They design and own the strategies to achieve their goal and that gives them all the satisfaction. Also they learn to evaluate their steps and next time become more astute in choosing the best path to achieve their goals.
As a parent, encourage your child to set simple goals. This could be with regard to home or school. Encourage them to plan out how they will achieve their goal. Make it simple as we are teaching the child the value of setting goals and hoping that they become conditioned to doing it more regularly.
In working with children who were showing some anxiety about school work, I would first ask them to be clear about what aspects of their work were causing them some issues. I would then ask them to talk about strategies they had used in the past or would like to use to set the goal of feeling better about their work. Once they thought about it, I was amazed how they took more control of their problem. They were starting to control their anxiety.
As a parent, we can help by just listening and discussing their strategies to achieve their goal. Talking to them about your own personal goals and how you set them up will help them reflect on the positive impact goal setting had in your life.
Encourage them along the way. Listen, affirm and applaud them when they have a go to achieve a goal. Remember, the point of this exercise is training children to value setting goals as a means to achieve their ends. The motivation behind setting the goal and finding strategies to achieve that goal is a key driver throughout this process.
“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes”.
Andrew Carnegie
As a parent, we can help our children achieve their goals by listening and discussing their strategies. Teaching goal setting at a young age will greatly benefit our children right through to adulthood and beyond.