Is your involvement helping or hurting your child’s education?

As a dad, you want to see your children do well in school so they can become doctors, lawyers or even astronauts one day (Mars is just waiting to be explored!). Becoming involved with your kids' schools can be a great way to boost their education while taking a more active role in their lives. In fact, researchers at the University of New Hampshire and New Editions Consulting found that parental involvement is equivalent to schools spending about $1,000 more per student to achieve the same level of success. However, there is such a thing as taking too much interest in your children's academics.

Putting too much emphasis on earning straight As or joining every extracurricular activity possible can have a negative impact on your children's achievements. For instance, helping your children prepare for an exam is great – especially if they ask for your help – but designing an intensive and regimented study session can put undue pressure on your kids not to fail.

Part of the experience in middle and high school is for students to learn how to succeed on their own terms. If their motivation to achieve is really your own motivation, then education can seem more like a burden than an opportunity to thrive. As a dad, offering support and assistance on a tough algebra assignment or while writing an English paper is encouraged, but be careful not to overemphasize academic perfection – you could inadvertently have the opposite effect.