Blog – 9 Nov 22 – Why is my child disengaging from education? How can I help my child focus at school?

The most common reasons for disengaging from learning is that your child is:

finding learning difficult and/or does not understand what they are to do
finding the activities are too easy and/or simply boring.

When your child is struggling to understand or participate in class they can begin to disengage, lose focus, misbehave, become the class clown, or simply shut down. What your child might not be able to articulate is that they are hoping these actions lead to being excluded from the activity taking place. Why? Being excluded is SOOOO much better than being shown up as not understanding, not knowing the answers and perhaps even demonstrating they are “dumb”. In this case, helping your child to gain the required knowledge to understand the lessons is only a part of the solution. It is equally critical to build the self-belief and confidence needed to become an engaged, focused, successful learner. This is where a life coach can help by unpacking and resolving issues resulting from negative educational experiences. When life coaching is coupled with elementary tutoring to address learning gaps, your child’s engagement with learning can be restored. An experienced educator who is also a qualified life coach is your solution!

Similarly, when learning activities are too easy or do not capture interest, your child might use the same behaviours: disengage, lose focus, begin to misbehave, become the class clown, or shut down. Your child is hoping these actions might lead to being introduced to something – anything! – different. In this case, your child may need help to work out exactly what their issues are and assistance to develop the confidence and language to clearly and politely explain their problem and desired solutions to you and their teachers. This is where a life coach can help. By unpacking issues resulting from negative educational experiences, a life coach can help your disengaged child find the solutions they need to re-engage with learning.