Stay Calm When Your Child Comes Home with a Poor Report Card

It is the end of the school year. Your kids will be coming home with their final report cards. What should you do if your child comes home with a poor report card?

Bad grades can increase any stress between parents and child. Parents who did not succeed in school or are not doing well in the workplace might see their child’s poor report card as a sign of their own failures.

Experts say you should stay calm. Keep your emotions under control. Do not show anger or frustration with your child.

A bad report card may be the first sign that a child is having problems in school. This is especially true when there is poor communications between parent and child. These situations can lead to abuse.

Talk in a calm, loving, concerned way
Parents should deal with report card issues rationally. You should sit down and talk with your child. Talk in a calm, loving and concerned way. Yelling or scolding your child will not help your child do better in school.

Parents should praise anything that is positive in the report card. They should ask the child about the poor grades and listen to the child’s explanation. Do not be judgmental. There might be underlying reasons for the poor grades, such as vision problems or hearing problems. Peer pressure or bullying might also be factors. By staying calm and listening to your child’s explanation, you can discover the problem.

Also talk to your child’s teacher. Report card problems should be tackled as early in a child’s school career as possible.

One expert said that going to school is a child’s job. “The longer he or she goes to school and does not succeed, the worse it gets.”

Tips at report card time

• Sit down with your child and look over the report card.
• Praise your child. Find at least one good thing to say about your child’s report card: attendance, no tardies.
• Be Calm. Let your child tell you about his poor grades.
• Ask how you can help your child do better.
• Make a plan with your child’s teacher and your child to do better.

Source: “Report card time tests parents, too,” and “Take a positive approach to report card problems.” Maura DeMet. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. June 3, 1990.