The days of determining the intelligence of a child based on his grades have longed passed. Marks do not determine how intelligent your child is but how well he or she can memorize. However, creativity and spontaneity determine how well your child is able to put his intelligence to good use. Attaining good grades should be encouraged but not having good grades isn’t the end of the world.

Life is more than marks: There’s no doubt that the grades of your child are very important, it, however, doesn’t spell out a child’s future. There are stories of people who never had the privilege of visiting the four walls of a school but ended up excelling in big ways. There are also those who at some point in their lives dropped out of school to pursue a different career path that got them in high places. Life exists outside the four walls of a classroom.

Grades do not decide the future of a child: There are a thousand and one things that a person can do without a formal education. There are millions of people that had formal educations, finished with great grades but still have no job to show for it. Some are lucky enough to get blue collar jobs, jobs that have nothing to do with their grades from either high school or tertiary institutions. Success should be measured according to a person’s level of cognitive thinking, his or her ability to produce ideas that solve existing and future problems. Statistics show that 41% of self-made millionaires were “B” students, 29% were ‘C’ students and 21% were ‘A’ students. This, however, should not be a reason to indulge your kids not to pay attention to their grades because employers first look out for good grades before any additional qualities your child may possess.
While grooming your children for the future, the attention shouldn’t solely be on their grades, encourage them to pick up an extra skill, something that naturally comes easy to them. It always pays off at the end because it serves as an alternative, especially in difficult times.