Building a Supportive Environment for Your Gifted Child

When you find out you have a gifted child, it’s often more of a confirmation of something you knew all along. Your child is special, and they are likely to outperform their peers. However, being a gifted child is rarely that straightforward. Gifted children tend to feel the need to prove themselves, and they struggle to ask for help when they need it. Here are some ways you can be a supportive parent to a gifted child. 

Avoid Comparison to Others

Most of the pressure gifted children face is from comparing themselves to others. These could be peers who they perceive as being smarter or more socially adept than they are. Help your child by avoiding the trap of comparing them to other people. Telling your child they are smarter than someone else can make them feel uneasy. Comparing them to someone who is outperforming them can make them feel less than. Focus on your child as an individual, rather than finding others to compare them to.

Applaud Effort and Accomplishments

Gifted children sometimes need to be reminded that effort matters. They tend to be more focused on the end goal and accomplishing the next big thing. However, the small accomplishments along the way are what help them get there. These children also need to be reminded that, even if something is not a resounding success, the effort made to reach the goal was worthwhile. 

Encourage Relationship Building

Your gifted child may appear to live in their own world. Children with diverse interests sometimes struggle to understand the importance of other people. Encourage your child to focus on building relationships with others, and not just their teachers. Talk to them about the friends they’ve made at school and their relationships with other family members. Guide them in focusing on friendships and relationships just as much as they focus on the very interesting thing they learned about in science class. 

Provide Enrichment Opportunities

Your gifted child is likely to have a lot of different interests, but some will persist over time. Whatever they’re interested in, provide opportunities for deeper exploration. If they won’t stop talking about sharks, spend a day at the aquarium together. Go to the library, and see if you can find some nonfiction books that will allow them to learn even more about their favorite things. Help them find answers to their seemingly endless list of questions. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, we create opportunities for every child to explore their genius. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Why Your Child Should Start Journaling

Journaling benefits people of all ages, but it can especially help children, who are learning how to express themselves as they go through life. Every day, your child will have new experiences, and writing them down can make them easier to process. This isn’t the only benefit to journaling. By writing every day, your child will naturally see improvement in their reading and writing skills. Here are a few of the main ways journaling can help your child thrive.

Provides an Outlet

Everyone needs an outlet. The problems children and teens have may seem small to adults who have gone through them already, but they weren’t small at the time. While your child may tell you about some of what they’re going through, it’s unlikely that they’re telling you everything. Through daily journaling, your child can have a healthy outlet to write things down and process their feelings about what they’re going through. This can be especially helpful as your child experiences things like heartbreak, loss and not getting their way for the first time. This will also help them develop their reading and writing skills. 

Builds Writing Skills

Reading and writing are valuable skills that can always be improved. Children who write on a daily basis make small improvements every day, which adds up over time. This won’t only affect their reading and writing skills; it could also help with penmanship, something that’s a struggle for many children. Whether your child is writing based on prompts or venting about their day, daily journal writing provides academic benefits. One of these benefits is the power of observation. 

Improves Observation Abilities

The world is a big place, especially for children, whose worlds are expanded constantly as they learn and grow. However, some children find it difficult to tune in to what’s going on around them. Journaling can help with that. The more children write about their own lives, the more they’ll find themselves thinking about others and their perspectives. When journaling becomes a daily habit, they may need to rack their brains occasionally to think about what’s new in their lives. This helps them develop another important skill: creativity. 

Promotes Creativity

No matter what your child writes about in their journal, whether it’s facts or fiction, daily writing will involve some level of creativity. Once they get into the habit of writing new entries every day, they’ll find it easier to come up with new ideas. Creative writing may not become their favorite subject, but it will be a valuable skill to use in life. While they’re building their academic skills, the increase in creativity will help make life more fun. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, a Tampa private school, students thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

How to Cope with Back-to-School Anxiety

A new school year will be starting soon, and for many students, that means exciting times are ahead. For some, however, the thought of a new school year brings anxiety. Children worry about their new teachers, new classes and the children they’ll meet. Will people like them? Will they do well in school? These thoughts can become overwhelming for children, especially after a fun summer vacation. Here’s how you can help. 

See How You Feel

Before you start trying to solve your child’s problems, you need to take a look at how you’re feeling. While your child needs to get back into a school routine, it’s your responsibility to set that routine and hold them accountable. You may also have concerns about sending them back to school after they’ve been around all summer. This can be stressful, and you need to make sure you’re not passing this stress along to your child. 

Listen to Your Child

The most important way to help your child deal with stress is by listening to what they have to say. Listen to any concerns they have, and do what you can to alleviate those worries. This may mean doing research in situations where you both don’t know the answer. In some cases, listening and providing advice and insight is enough. You’ll never know unless you ask and listen. 

Practice Your Routine

If your child is nervous about going to a new grade with a new teacher and facing new challenges, start their daily routine earlier. Your child can become more grounded when they get used to what will be the same every day of the school year. The more they practice ahead of time, the more confident they will be when school starts for real. As the school year gets closer, if they live near the school, consider driving by with your child so they’ll feel more prepared to go back.

Have Your Child’s Back

When entering a new grade or a new school, your child may worry that they won’t make friends or  that they’ll be bullied. This is a real possibility that you need to consider. Take time to build up your child’s self-esteem, especially if you notice that they’re insecure. Reassure them that you’ll be there if something happens and that they can and should talk to you if it does. Make yourself available to be a trusted advisor. 

Going back to school can be fun and exciting — and anxiety-inducing. At North Tampa Christian Academy, a Tampa private school, students thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Life Skills to Teach Your Child

Summer means a break from school, but it doesn’t need to be a break from learning. Children who stop learning over the summer often experience summer learning loss, also known as the “summer slide.” During the break, teach your child skills that will help them get ahead in life. As a bonus, some of these activities will also enhance their summer fun. Here are some life skills we recommend teaching your child:

Water-Based Skills and Safety

Children in Florida need to know how to swim and how to float. The more they learn about water safety early on in life, the better. Take time this summer to teach your child all about life jackets and how to safely wade in shallow water. If your child doesn’t know how to swim or isn’t a strong swimmer, consider swimming lessons. Whether they’re out by the pool or going canoeing, your child will need to know how to swim.

Riding a Bike

Start teaching your child how to ride a bike during summer break, and they’ll be off the training wheels by the time they return to school. Riding a bike has many benefits for children, from being a quick form of transportation to expanding their social opportunities. You and the family could even get together and go on bicycle rides. 

Brushing Up on Handwriting

When children get too used to typing everything, they may struggle to improve their handwriting. More practice writing by hand can help most children write more legibly. Ask your child to write down the grocery list, start a personal journal or even write out a calendar for the family! There are plenty of things that can be written by hand to help your child’s penmanship before they head back to school.

Cooking and Kitchen Safety

Summer is the perfect time to teach your child how to cook. Your child has a few weeks to master a recipe or learn a couple kitchen skills. Find a recipe or two that would be at your child’s skill level, whether that’s making sandwiches or cooking pasta on the stove. While teaching your child how to cook, teach them how they can use utensils properly, clean up along the way, store everything properly and make sure all appliances are turned off when they’re done.

First Aid

Accidents happen to people of all ages, but children are especially prone to things like scraped knees and bug bites. Teach your child what to do in the event of an injury, and be very clear about what they can treat on their own and what requires medical attention. Children may still think that you can solve everything for them, and teaching them basic first aid will help them become more independent. 

Learning life skills over the summer is a great way for children to receive continued education and prepare for At North Tampa Christian Academy, a Tampa private school, students thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Staying Active as a Family During Breaks from School

As much as children look forward to summer break, they often spend a lot of it bored, wondering what to do with their newfound free time. While they should dedicate some of their break to rest, summer is an important time for children to form good habits and stay active. If the whole family can get involved, then that’s even better. Here are some fun, active ways you can spend summer with your child. 

Make a Summer Bucket List

Children are often full of ideas, but those ideas go away as quickly as they appear. Take some time with your child to make a list of things you both want to do before the end of summer break. As you complete each task, have your child check it off so they can have a sense of accomplishment. Some of the goals can be lofty, but make sure there are at least a few simple ones like “go to the beach at sunset” and “learn to fly a kite.”

Attend Outdoor Events

On any given weekend, and especially on holiday weekends, you can find all kinds of free or inexpensive family-friendly activities to do together. Find a major park or downtown spot online, and see what they have going on over the summer. Summer festivals, farmer’s markets or even movies in the park can be great opportunities to get out into the world as a family. They can also lead to great memories. 

Explore Nature

There’s nothing quite like connecting with nature as a family. See if there’s a park or nature preserve near you. Before you head out, make sure you’ve packed plenty of water and sunscreen for everyone. Bring the whole family so you can get “lost” in the woods together. Keep in mind, you may lose cell signal. Follow marked trails so you don’t actually get lost. If your child needs a little extra motivation to head out into nature, make it a scavenger hunt! 

Go Swimming 

Swimming is a great activity for all ages, as it’s easy to learn and easy on the joints. If your child isn’t a confident swimmer, consider swimming lessons. You can make it a goal to swim together as a family by the end of summer. This activity is great because there are plenty of indoor and outdoor pools, and you can even go swimming in the ocean. If you are making a day of it, you’ll want to make sure you have sunscreen and reapply often.

Getting active together during summer break is a great way to spend quality time as a family. At North Tampa Christian Academy, a Tampa private school, students thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.