Back-to-School Tips to Expand Your Teen’s Confidence and Independence
We all want our kids to thrive in learning environments, but often there are things that get in the way. Whether it’s overwhelming classroom environments, lack of confidence, or other concerns, many teens tend to shut down or react negatively to school. This response isn’t obstinance or bad behavior—in almost every case, it’s a coping mechanism that the brain uses in response to stress. Building their confidence and independence in school (and beyond) starts by taking a step back in many cases to look at the bigger picture.
If you feel like your teen’s educational journey has been filled with stress and setbacks, here are some things you can do to set them up for greater success this school year:
#1: Focus on Organization from Day 1
Many teens who struggle in school have poor executive functioning skills that make it harder for them to break down tasks, keep things organized, and follow through in a timely manner. These are skills that can be strengthened, but in the meantime it’s important to give them support to get them through.
Here are some ideas for what this can look like:
- Working with their teacher to get lists of assignments ahead of time so you can create a schedule for homework and studying
- Doing daily, weekly, and monthly cleanouts of backpacks, computer files, and other spaces to make sure everything is in its place
- Breaking large assignments or tasks into manageable chunks, with incentives along the way.
#2: Find the System that Works for THEM
Just because there’s a particular studying, scheduling, or filing system that you or a teacher prefer doesn’t mean it will work for your teen! It’s crucial to get kids’ buy-in for the ways that they learn best so they can take ownership of it. This is something that takes immense trial-and-error, but once you find the strategy that clicks, it’s magical to watch!
Play around with colored folders, online filing systems, flash cards, mind mapping, bullet journaling, or other study and organization strategies to see which one works best for your teen. Then once you find it, take a step back and let them run with it!
When they have a system that works, teens are more likely to feel confident enough to use it independently.
#3: Create Sleep, Eating, Homework, and Fun Routines
It’s crucial to create predictable rhythms in your teen’s life. This is a period with immense changes to them physically and emotionally, so consistency at home is key! Help them create routines that allow plenty of time for sleep, homework, and fun so none of these areas suffer. Making sure they’re eating nourishing meals (not late at night) and limiting time on their phones is helpful, too!
Scheduling in the “fun” things (or the things that they feel good at) can help expand their resilience and willingness to work hard at the not-so-easy things.
#4: Build Cognitive Skills
When the brain takes in new information, it has to process it. It’s not a direct route (input to storage). Instead, it goes through a complex network of skills like attention (did you lose a piece along the way?), logic (can you figure out how this connects?), visual and auditory processing (are you seeing and hearing accurately?), memory (are you sure that’s what they said?), and processing speed (is the line clogged up so information gets lost?).
Weaknesses in any of these areas (and more) can make learning much more tedious and challenging, leading to greater feelings of stress, overwhelm, and incompetence. The great news for your stressed out teen is that learning CAN get easier when you build up the skills that are weak!
At LearningRx, we don’t just guess what kind of learner your teen is or try to figure out their weak points. We take a deeper look into the way their brain functions with a cognitive skills assessment to find the true “why” behind their struggles.
Our brain training options for teens not only include this core skill strengthening, but also options for areas like:
