My childs grades and College. When do my child's' grades matter the most!

Parents often do not realize that some grades are more important then other grades during their childs' childhood. It should be noted that few colleges look at grades in nursery school or grade school. The colleges are primarily focused on grades in high school. They rarely request a transcript from grade school. Therefore, the focus during the early years of school should really be more on learning and less only on grades.  The knowledge your child attains during the early years will also assist him life in many areas. Knowledge helps your child in his daily life as an adult as well as in getting into  college.  Also, knowledge can help to perform well on standardized entrance test such as the ACT or SAT. These standardized tests are often required for application to college and there are cut-offs for those eligible to be admitted and scholarships based on these tests. 

Parents that do the homework for their child in these early years are not really helping them.  Parents should be more of a coach to encourage or answer questions on how to find the information to complete the homework.  Even if your child does not have homework on a given night it is important and helpful for the child's future to encouraged him to read or do some academic task. Parents might ask the child  for at least an hour after school or dinner on days there is no homework assigned.  Parents should keep the goals for your child in perspective as he is growing up. If you loose focus of learning during the early years, especially, you may end up with a child that had good grades but sadly cannot read! A reward program is especially helpful for encouraging your child to read or do homework on a daily basis. The short term gratification of your child getting good grades may not mean anything in the long term for his happiness as an adult and his hopes for going to college or other professions.