This article is part of the following topics: Cheating Peer Pressure Talking With Your Child About School
How To Respond if Your Child Is Caught Cheating
Your child has just come home with a note from the teacher that says she was caught cheating. Your first instinct may be to ground her for life.
Instead, experts suggest setting aside time to talk and really listen to your child. Ask your child what happened. Then follow these guidelines:
Find out why he felt the need to cheat. Is he afraid of what you will do if he gets a bad grade?
If your child is fearful, make sure she knows that low grades would not be the end of your love for her. You would be more concerned than angry.
If your child cheated because of his own high expectations, tell him not to put too much emphasis on grades. Grades don’t reflect a person’s worth or intelligence.
If your child thinks cheating is “no big deal,” tell her it is wrong. Cheaters rob themselves of really learning the material and are also unfair to honest students.
If your child let someone cheat, find out why. Was he afraid this person wouldn’t like him? Let your child know that a real friend would never reject someone for not doing what he wants.
Help your child role-play turning down an invitation to cheat: “I’d like to help you, Sandy, but I don’t like cheating. Besides, we could get into a lot of trouble.”
Copyright © Parent Institute
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