Page 15 - Dainfern Precinct Living August Issue 2025

THE BIG PICTURE
TODAY'S CHILD
There’s a moment in almost every school career when your child stops bouncing
through the gates with a snack-stained smile and starts coming home with words like
“study guide” and “assessment criteria.” For many, that moment arrives in Grade 4. One
minute you’re checking they’ve packed crayons, the next you’re Googling “how to help
my child summarise a Natural Sciences chapter without tears (theirs or mine).”

B Y NIC OLA KILL OPS

• “What’s the opposite view — and paragraph, one win at a time. • Knows how to break a big task into
could it be valid?” Momentum beats marathon doable chunks
cramming every single time. • Understands their own learning
These moments train them to connect dots, style
not just collect them. Your Role: Coach, Not Command Centre • Can regulate themselves under
You are not the homework police. You are not pressure
WHEN EXAMS BREAK THEIR BRAIN the exam-sermon giver. You are the steady, • Feels capable of facing academic
Some kids can cruise until the first formal calm, “we’ve got this” voice in their head. challenges without falling apart.
exam season — and then it’s like someone’s Ask:
unplugged their memory. This is especially • “What’s your plan for today?” You’re not just teaching them how to pass a
true for neurodivergent learners, who can instead of “Have you started yet?” test. You’re teaching them how to learn for
find the pressure physically overwhelming. • “Do you want help, or just life.
When that happens: company?” And that, quite frankly, is the one skill school
• Reset first: You can’t pour water • “What’s the first small thing you can’t teach without you.
into a closed bottle — regulation can do right now?”
before revision. Movement, deep QUICK STUDY WINS (FOR PARENTS
breaths, a sensory break — then The more ownership they take, the more WHO ARE SKIMMING IN THE CAR
start. confidence they build — and the less you PARK)
• Work backwards: Start with the have to be the bad guy. 1. Start small, start now.
question or past paper, then figure Five focused minutes is better than an hour
out what knowledge it demands. THE LONG GAME of arguing. Build the habit before you build
Context makes content stick. The goal isn’t a neat set of study notes by the hours.
• Chunk it down: One question, one Friday. It’s a child who: 2. Make it visual.
Planners, wall calendars, colour codes —
whatever makes time and tasks visible stops
overwhelm in its tracks.
3. Teach “chunking.”
A chapter becomes three pages, a page
becomes three paragraphs, a paragraph
becomes a few bullet points. Kids learn
confidence in small bites.
4. Stay calm when they’re not.
Your nervous system is contagious. Breathe
first, talk second.
5. Pick your moment.
Mid-tantrum is not the time to discuss study
strategy. Wait for the quiet, then problem-
solve.
6. Effort > Outcome.
Marks are data, not a personality test. Praise
the process — the method, the resilience —
as much as the result.
STUDY LIKE A BOSS (KID-FRIENDLY
CHEAT SHEET)
1. Your brain’s like a phone battery — it
works better if you don’t let it run to 1%.
Take breaks before you’re exhausted. Move,
snack, come back stronger.
2. Don’t just read — do.
Quiz yourself, make flashcards, explain it to
your dog. (Dogs are very patient.)
3. Frog First.
Tackle the hardest subject first while your
brain’s still fresh. The rest feels easier after.
4. Use your style.
Draw it, say it out loud, act it out — whatever
makes sense to you is the “right” way.
5. The 20/5 Rule.
Work for 20 minutes, break for 5. Repeat.
Your brain loves sprints, not marathons.
6. Sleep.
Midnight cramming feels heroic but kills
memory. Tomorrow’s brain thanks you for
going to bed.

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