Parental Influence on Their Child's Education

Encourage and expect, but don't pressure

• Encouraging your child shows that you value her education, and this motivates her to succeed. Setting expectations for educational success is also important. A study published in the 2007 issue of the International Journal of Behavioral Development found that higher parental expectations were linked to better student performance in math and English.

  Keep in mind that putting excessive pressure on your child can cause stress and interfere with his success. Research reported in a 1997 issue of the Journal of Secondary Gifted Education in an article titled, "Parents' Conceptions of Academic Success: Internal and External Standards" by Karen Ablard, and republished by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, suggests that excessive or exclusive parental focus on external indicators such as performance beyond one's peers or attainment of socially recognized achievements such as college admission and employment in a high-status job, can pressure children and cause them to feel that academic success is more about pleasing others.

Get involved and offer support

• Getting involved at your child's school, creating a home environment that encourages learning and supporting your child's educational goals are also important. Take advantage of opportunities to engage in school-related activities such as parent-teacher conferences, extracurricular activities involving your child and other school functions. This show of support can also keep you up-to-date on your child's performance in school. Helping your child with school work, when needed, provides another method of influencing his education by encouraging good study habits.

Monitor and keep tabs

• Parental monitoring can indirectly influence your child's education. Knowing what she does during and after school keeps you aware of whether she is completing school work or struggling at school. Get to know your child̵7;s friends so you can keep tabs on any behaviors or activities that might interfere with her educational goals. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's online Adolescent and School Health section, parental monitoring can help reduce adolescents̵7; risks for behavioral and health problems such as pregnancy, physical aggression, injury, skipping school, and use of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.

Other indirect influences

• Other factors can indirectly influence your child's scholastic achievement. Growing up in a one- as opposed to two-parent household, poverty, community characteristics and a parent's level of education can impact academic success, according to a study conducted by Pamela E. Davis-Keegan that was published in a 2005 issue of the Journal of Family Psychology. Davis-Keegan's study suggests that a parent's level of schooling influences how high he or she sets expectations for his or her child. The study also links having a higher level of education to creating a warm, social climate that fosters reading, playing and other nurturing activities at home, which can positively affect a child's academic achievement.