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.  





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