No More Homework: Take Your Kid to the Museum Instead

Who knew?

 Taking your kids to a museum will help them get better grades than making them study for hours.

 So says a new study that proclaims that spending quality time with your kids will do them a lot better in school than forcing them to hit the books over and over.
Research indicates adolescents are more likely to want to pursue further study if their parents take them to museums rather than homework clubs, according to newswise.com.

Researchers found that adolescents who take part in cultural activities with their mother and father were more likely to aspire to continue their studies post-16 than those who didn’t. This is compared to even those who attended homework clubs or participated in extra-curricular activities.

Why?  Filial dynamics such as emotional closeness to parents and "cultural capital" were better predictors than more school-driven parent-child interactions, researchers found.

In the study, factors relating to family emotional closeness, bullying, friendships, homework, extra-curricular activities and perception of parental interest in the child’s education were examined. The researchers measured responses to questions about a variety of topics such as visiting art galleries, discussing books at home, the number of evenings spent doing homework, relationship with siblings and quarreling with parents.

The team found that the inclination to solve problems (self-efficacy) was a strong predictor of educational aspiration. Adolescents who indicated they were less confident at tackling problems were 30% less likely to rate gaining high school GCSEs important. 

The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academically rigorous, internationally recognised qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by pupils in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland over two years (three years in certain schools).

In addition, those who expressed a lower level of general well-being were 18% more likely to choose not to go to university. Closeness to parents was an indicator of attitude towards GCSEs; those who did not feel emotionally close to their parents were two times higher to consider GCSEs unimportant. 
 
 What the researchers termed "cultural capital" or participating in cultural activities appeared to affect the desire to study further. Those who weren’t exposed to cultural activates were 14% and 20% respectively less likely to consider university or GCSEs as important. Those who did go to museums, galleries, concerts etc. were found to be 23% less likely to consider training or employment post-16.

So slam shut those books and take your kid to a museum or an aquarium or any place you can spend quality time together!  His future may depend on it.  





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Herbal Supplements? Even Green Tea Extract Can Lead to Liver Damage

Take herbal supplements? You might want to listen up. A new study is warning that new information is showing that some supplements may damage the liver, along with over the counter drugs and even those prescribed by physicians, according to newswise.com. The rate of drug-induced liver injury (DILI), a rare adverse drug reaction which is challenging to diagnose -- and which can lead to jaundice, liver failure and even death -- is increasing more and more.  Experts put it down to the overwhelming use of herbal supplements and other drugs in the last 10 years.  “A lot of consumers have a preconceived notion that if it’s a natural product, it must be safe. But that is not necessarily the case,” the Web site quotes Herbert Bonkovsky, MD, FACG, co-author of the guidelines. “Most of these products are not well-regulated and have very little oversight. Traces of heavy metals and prescription drugs have even been found in some herbal and dietary supplements. We encourage patients to
Read more

Social Media Replacing Human Contact? Nah

I used to think my son only talked to his "girlfriend" (did I mention he'll be 12 in June?) in school.  Then I happened to walk by his computer and saw her on his screen.  They Skype.  About three hours a day.  Then I got it.  It's real.  Kids mostly communicate electronically these days. But Joe McKendrick at smartplanet.com believes there are reasons social media won't completely replace face-to-face interactions.  For one, there's less distraction.  If you're sitting at your computer, you're scanning for emails or googling or watching the news, in addition to talking to someone.  When you're actually with someone, it's harder to do this -- though, Joe, are you living on Mars? Have you never seen a teen texting at the table, while talking to you, or God forbid, driving? Most of McKendrick's points have to do with the office, and meeting in person to do business rather than connecting online.  I have to admit here, it makes sense.  He
Read more

Be Humble. Your Employees May Work Harder

You wouldn't know it from our current crook- er - commander-in-chief but it pays to be humble , new research is showing. It’s good to be humble when you’re the boss – as long as that’s what your employees expect, according to newswise.com. Researchers studying workplaces in China found that some real-life teams showed more creativity if the employees rated their bosses as showing more humility. “Whether leader humility is a good thing really depends on the team members’ expectations,” says  Jia (Jasmine) Hu , lead author of the study and associate professor of  management and human resources  at The Ohio State University’s  Fisher College of Business . Humble leaders are most effective when team members expect a low degree of distance between the leaders and followers, Hu explains. When there is "low power distance" (I assume, this means when the boss is humble), employees share power with their boss in a collaborative way. But humility may be seen as a weaknes
Read more