Bad grades at school: How to help your child

How should you react to bad grades?

Almost every child gets bad grades. A one-off “slip” is also no cause for concern. You should only get to the bottom of the matter if your child consistently gets bad grades in one or more subjects despite intensive study.

If you are angry about your child’s bad grades, that is understandable, but does not lead you any further. Because if your child has to fear thunderstorms every time they bring home a “poor”, this only increases the pressure on your child unnecessarily. Your child already knows that you are not happy about a failed class test.

It is helpful if you comfort your child and offer support instead of scolding and punishing them. You should try to show understanding and think with your child about what you can do better next time to avoid bad grades. Ask it directly: “How can I help you? What do you think we should do?” This often gives you valuable information about the cause of the problem. Bad grades are rarely due to laziness.

Reasons for bad grades

There can be a variety of reasons why a child gets bad grades. That’s why you should definitely talk to your child and your child’s teacher in great detail to find out why your child can’t perform better. Bad school grades can be the result of these factors, for example:

• overload
• underchallenge and boredom
• problems with the teacher
• Problems with classmates, for example bullying
• Fear of exam situations
• Learning disability or learning disorder, such as ADHD , dyslexia , or dyscalculia
• concentration problems
• lack of motivation
• forgetfulness
• lack of sleep
• Wrong learning strategies
• Too much school stress
• school anxiety
• Knowledge gaps due to a change of school or absenteeism
• family problems
• Mental problems

Measures against bad grades

If you want to actively support your child to improve bad grades, you should help them to eliminate the cause of the failures. In general, however, you can use the following measures to ensure a positive mood so that your child can develop joy in learning again:

• Don’t base your affection on school performance. Show your child that you love them no matter what notes they write.
• Set short-term and realistic goals for your child so that they can gradually improve bad grades. Instead of saying: “But I want to see at least an A on the next report card”, you should better try to motivate your child: “In the class test in six weeks you try to get a D.”
• Try to motivate your child to go back to school by praising even small successes, giving your child courage and showing interest in their everyday school life.
• Boost your child’s confidence by enabling them to be successful in other areas, such as playing soccer, fixing their bikes, playing the guitar, or baking a cake. Try to encourage your child’s talents in a targeted manner.
• Do not tempt with rewards for good grades because, like threats of punishment, this increases the pressure on your child. It’s better if you don’t reward the result but your child’s efforts. For example, you can go out for ice cream together when your child has achieved a learning goal.
• Make sure that your child gets enough sport to compensate for learning. Because exercise, especially in the fresh air, promotes the ability to concentrate.
• Your child should always get enough sleep and eat a balanced diet during school time. Because without sleep and nutrients, your child is not receptive to school because the brain cannot work properly.
• Sometimes tutoring can also be a way to improve bad grades. This gives your child the opportunity to fill in the gaps in their knowledge and to deal with the material a little more intensively.

You can find more tips on how you can support your child at school in our special on learning . There you can read how bad grades can be avoided through successful learning strategies.