Learning and Developing
See also: Supporting Children Through ExamsOne of your most important functions as a parent is to help your child to learn, and support their learning.
The process of learning is basically the process of making sense of the world. Learning starts in babyhood, and continues throughout childhood and, hopefully, with the right care and encouragement, throughout life.
Learning, of course, doesn’t just mean formal learning, although this is important. Children also need to learn and develop informally. Discovering how the world works, and developing social and interpersonal skills to enable them to take their place in the world. Children will learn a great deal of these skills from you, their parent.
Formal and Informal Learning
Parents have a key role to play in supporting their children’s formal learning.
Many schools describe a ‘partnership’ with parents, emphasising the key role that parents play. After all, your child is only in school for six hours a day, and then only during term time. For the rest of their time, parents are a key influence. One of the most useful things that you can do, for example, is to read with children on a regular basis.
Informal learning takes place in a wide range of settings. It encompasses ‘essentials’ like language development and exploring the environment, and also what we might describe as ‘extra-curricular activities’ like music and sport. Our page on supporting children’s informal learning explains more.
Parents also have a key role in helping their children to develop social skills and interpersonal skills. Some might even say that this is one of the most important aspects of parenting.
Nurturing Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
While academic success is often measured by grades, a child's long-term well-being is heavily dependent on their Emotional Intelligence. This involves teaching children to recognize their own emotions, regulate their responses to stress, and develop empathy for others.
By modelling healthy emotional responses and providing a safe space for children to express their feelings, parents help them build the resilience needed to navigate social complexities and personal challenges later in life.
Essential Life Skills for the Modern World
As children transition toward independence, they need a toolkit of practical abilities that school curricula may not always cover in depth. These include everything from basic financial literacy and time management to self-care and household responsibilities.
Providing opportunities for your child to practice these skills in a low-stakes environment is vital for their confidence. For a comprehensive breakdown of these competencies, see our guide on Essential Life Skills for Children and Teens.
Digital Literacy and Ethical AI
In the modern world, learning is inextricably linked with technology. Parents now face the dual challenge of encouraging technical proficiency while ensuring their children remain safe and ethically grounded online. It is no longer enough to simply monitor screen time; children must learn to use technology as a tool for inquiry and creation.
With the rise of generative tools, it is crucial to talk to your children about Using AI Ethically in Education, helping them understand the difference between a helpful tutor and a shortcut that bypasses critical learning.
Settings for Learning
As your child grows and learns, you also need to choose settings for their learning. Choosing childcare is a challenge with which most working parents will be familiar, and our page on Types of Childcare is designed to help.
Unless you choose to home-school your child, you will also face the challenge of Choosing a School for them, at both primary and secondary levels. While children are likely to have considerably more input into the decision when they are older, parental input is vital. Later children will also have to make decisions about which subjects they wish to study—our page on Choosing Study Subjects can help guide these difficult choices.
Developing Independence
Another important function of parents is to help their children to develop independence, a gradual and ongoing process that starts in babyhood and continues throughout childhood into adulthood.
This process, done right, ensures that children grow up able to manage their own lives, both physical and emotional.
For more, see our page on Encouraging and Increasing Independence.
Learning Through Play and Discovery
For Toddlers and Young Children, play is the primary vehicle for learning. Unstructured "free play" allows children to experiment with cause and effect, develop fine motor skills, and learn the basics of physics and social negotiation.
Parents can support this by providing an environment that encourages curiosity. Whether it is through outdoor exploration or imaginative role-play, these informal experiences build the neural foundations for the more complex abstract thinking required in later schooling.
Critical Thinking and Questioning
In an era of information overload, the ability to analyze and evaluate information is more important than ever. Fostering Critical Thinking Skills starts with encouraging your child to ask "Why?".
By engaging in open-ended discussions and challenging your child to look at problems from multiple perspectives, you help them move from passive absorption of facts to active, independent thought. This mindset is the ultimate tool for navigating both academic life and the adult world.
Conclusion: We All Learn, All The Time
Learning is a natural process, and it would be very hard to stop children learning, even if you wanted to do so. There are, however, useful things that parents can do to ensure that their children develop a growth mindset, which will help them to become lifelong learners, rather than deciding that learning is not for them.