Right from the minute our kids are born, they are learning.  Their brains develop and grow along with the stimulation that they are given.  Children who are not given appropriate physical contact or who are not spoken to consistently have real problems learning later in life.  This is because

children's brains are wired by their early experiences. 

Your children's attitudes to learning and reading are shaped by your attitudes.  The best gift you can give them is curiosity and a desire to learn, along with determination and resilience.  These will get them through their school years and later life and it started when they were born.

You don't have to be a teacher to give them these gifts.  By giving them positive, affectionate attention you are helping them achieve it.  Give them plenty of stimulus - both outside and at home. Read to them every day.  Show them how to find information they want to know (you don't have to know the answer - I am learning so much from helping my son find information to questions I would never have thought to ask).  Talk to them and ask them questions.  Find out what interests them and what they enjoy.

To do all this you will need to spend time with them.  You do not need to be a stay at home parent, as sometimes SAHP can even get too busy to spend quality time with their children.  Sometimes I do and I know when and I make an effort to reconnect and spend time one on one to get to know this child again.

Once they start preschool or school the responsibility doesn't stop.  Meet their teachers, develop a rapport, spend time at the school.  Many schools and even preschools are finding it hard now to get parents to volunteer to be involved.  You can help with reading, craft or on excursions - there are many opportunities. 

If there are special days at school, try and be there.  If you can't, why  not try and find someone else who can!  At our picnic today there were grandparents for some children whose parents work and I have been to my nieces' special school days when their mum was working.  Raising a child is easier with community - that's what family is meant to be there for.  If you don't have close family, create a family from trusted and loyal friends.

Most of all take an interest.  What did you do at school today?  What was interesting? What did you learn about?  What stories did they read?  And when they talk, listen - especially if there is a problem at school.  That way, hopefully you can pick up on it in the early stages and find ways to sort it out before it gets too big.

If the teachers do something special, show your thanks.  Often they think it goes unnoticed and a lack of appreciation can make good teachers want to resign.  The worst thing for them is to put in hours of work on a special event or display, or even a challenging child and have the parents not even acknowledge it - that can be devastating.

Likewise, if you have a teacher who is not connecting with your child or is even hindering them, don't ignore it.  Communicate with the school and the teacher.  Find ways to make it work, or even look for other possibilities - a different teacher, a different school, home-schooling or tutoring. 

Many children who struggle to learn do so because they have no interest in learning - this could be because of a poor or inexperienced teacher, lots of changes in their schooling, struggles at home, stress or a feeling of failure (so why bother trying), but if you are connected and involved you can find ways to work with your child to bring that spark back and help them deal with their issues. 

You may not have been the brightest kid in your school, but you can make a huge difference to your child.