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Show Helping your child succeed in school By LILY ESKELSEN Millions of dollars are spent each year on books that tell parents how to give their children an edge in school. I remember being impressed with one book on' how to teach your child to read before age two. (It should have been entitled, "How to Make Your Child Neurotic before He Can Walk.") I've always felt pretty good about my teaching abilities. I'm pretty confident about how to drill times tables. The kids seem to enjoy the adventure of social studies. Even math can become a game if you do it right. I'm on shakier ground as a parent. I don't have a curriculum guide, nor did I take a methods class in managing a child's messy room. I therefore have read every parenting paren-ting book in print, hoping to find the magic formula. Let me sum up for you my fin dings: One, play with your kids. Have fun. Tickle. Build a snowman. Race. Play skeeball. Don't get so uptight about being the authority figure that you can't share your real self with your children. Two, tell them that you love them. Say it when you wake them up. Say it when you send them off to school. Say it when you talk to them on the phone. Say it when you scold them. Let it be the last thing they hear before they go to sleep. Make it be something that becomes a natural part of them, like eating or breathing or fighting with siblings. Third, learn to walk the tightrope. Find the balance between being there when needed and knowing when to let go. All the books I've read tell you to do this. None of them tell you how. No teacher, no matter how good, can take the place of a parent. Give your children a foundation of love and security. Imagine what we teachers will be able to build on that. |