How to help your child be more confident and capable in the classroom

Wednesday 25 September 2024Wed 25 Sep 2024 at 7:56pm

A mother reading a book to her two children in bed — Calliope and Theo Xintavelonis read a story before bed, as part of their regular routine. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)

In short:

A child psychologist says reduced sleep and an increase in time spent online may be impacting school performance in children as young as primary-school age.

An online safety advocate says children "need consistency and boundaries" and urges parents to take a firm line with social media and phone use, to curb late nights and sleep loss.

What's next?

Parents can help support children at school by setting bedtime routines, monitoring online use and promoting healthy eating.

It's nearly bedtime for primary school students Calliope and Theo Xintavelonis.

Like most nights, they're tucked up in bed, reading a story before the lights are turned off.

Their family tries to keep to a regular bedtime routine to encourage quality sleep before another day at school.

Their mum, Cassie Xintavelonis, is a child psychologist. Through her practice she sees how essential adequate sleep is, especially for children and teenagers facing a classroom the next morning.

"The first thing we ask families when they come into the practice is, 'what's your sleep routine? How much sleep is your child getting? Do they have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep? What do you do to support them getting to sleep?'" she said.

"Sleep can be the first thing that we can change, and we can change quite easily without medical intervention."

A woman with brown hair smiling for a photo — Cassie Xintavelonis says reducing screen time before bed can help improve sleep. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)

Are your children getting enough sleep?

Adequate sleep is one way parents can help their child be more confident at school and capable of focusing and learning.

As part of a series on education, the ABC has spoken with several teachers. Many said they were struggling to teach students who were turning up to school tired and unable to concentrate.

Academically, the 2024 national NAPLAN scores show one-in-three Australian school students is performing below literacy and numeracy benchmarks, and more than one-in-10 needing additional support.

School attendance rates are dropping, with risk factors including psychological problems and school environment problems such as bullying.

While what happens in the classroom is out of parents' control, teachers say small changes at home can make a big difference during school hours.

Ms Xintavelonis recommends not using screens or devices in the half hour before bed, and keeping the nightly routine regular where possible, even for older children.

"If there's something familiar that they can do on the way to bed every night, it can really help just relax them and get them ready for sleep," she said.

A close up of a child's hands holding a mobile phone, with a game on the screen. In the background is a computer keyboard. — Research suggests that blue light emitted from electronic devices might have negative effects on sleep quality and sleep duration. (Unsplash: Onur Binay)

"It starts to prepare their brain to wind down."

Australian guidelines recommend 5–13 year olds sleep for nine to 11 hours a night and 14–17 year olds sleep for eight to 10 hours.

Dinner table discussions

What children eat can also affect their school performance, with a growing body of research finding that eating a healthy and nutritious diet can improve mental health, academic performance and enhance cognitive skills such as concentration, creativity and memory.

"We know that if kids can be eating regularly, good healthy foods, including fruits and vegetables and good proteins, it sustains energy, promotes focus and learning," Ms Xintavelonis said.

An aerial shot of a group of people sitting around a dining table full of food. — Research has shown that a diet high in fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, and legumes can benefit brain function. (Pexels: Fauxels)

Parents can also help to create time and space for children to talk about any challenges they are having at school.

Ms Xintavelonis recommended establishing that early on in children's school years.

"Teenagers are renowned for shutting down, not talking, not wanting to talk to the parents who are not very cool,"

she said.

"But if they've set up a nice safe space where they can talk about anything, and they're able to problem solve — not necessarily have a parent solve all their problems but sometimes just being able to talk things through — it just sets up a really nice space for later in life for that to happen."

Two girls looking at the screen of a smart phone — Ms Xintavelonis recommends parents establish good communication with their children early on in their school years. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)

Keeping children safe online

Teachers also raised concerns about students being exposed to inappropriate content online, then bringing explicit language and violent or sexual topics of conversation into the classroom.

Online safety advocate Jen Hoey established the web-based parent group Not My Kid after her daughter was exposed to a predator through an online game when she was nine years old.

"That really changed the trajectory of my life. I decided to cope, I had to educate myself,"

she said.

A woman with dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail stands in front of a white lockable charging box, smiling. — Ms Hoey's life changed after her daughter was exposed to an online predator at nine years of age. (ABC News: Patrick Thomas)

"I became very quickly aware that as parents, we are not sufficiently understanding the risks that our children face when they go online, unsupervised, in particular, in their bedrooms."

Keeping devices out of bedrooms is strongly encouraged in the group, along with storing mobile phones and tablets in a lockable charging box overnight.

"It is a really great, robust solution, especially for parents who are struggling to ensure that their children stick to the boundaries,"

she said.

A woman with dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail stands behind a white lockable charging box, smiling. — Ms Hoey advocates for the use of lockable tech charging stations as a means to keep devices out of the bedroom. (ABC News: Patrick Thomas)

Ms Hoey also works in her husband's psychiatric practice, where teenage clients often report they stay up until 2 or 3am scrolling on social media.

"We also have the risk of being exposed to online predators, there's bullying, and we can't exclude the rate of sextortion that we're currently seeing. Most of the images that are found online are taken within a child's bedroom," she said.

Ms Hoey recommends parents enforce firm guidelines for their children.

"I can sympathise with teachers. I think that we should be encouraging reading before bed and a very, very firm bedtime. Children need consistency and boundaries.