Help your child define Quality

Is your child's definition of quality the same as you, yours?

Even if you child understands the general idea of quality, you may need to be more specific in your direction. For example when you say,"Please clean your room," does he know exactly what you mean by that? Or, when he is done, are there still clothes on the floor, the closet door left open, and his books are still lying around the table? What you need to do is to help your child to define what your expectation of quality is before you expect it from him.

Maybe, some of you might feel that it is too late to teach your child. Remember this phrase 'learning is for life'.The only time learning stop (beside death) is when we find excuses for us not to learn.

Quality work is something we must watch for and be diligent in teaching and reinforcing. Sometimes you may slacken and forgotten to reinforce it. No worries. If you realise that you have slackened, what you can do is to get your child to remind you. Tell them that you are their partner and both of you are on this journey together. You may be surprised that they will remind you regularly. When I have forgotten to pray for my children, they will say, "Papa, you have not prayed for us." Once they know what you are doing is for their good, they will join you.

Don't give up.

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The three Ps of Quality

There are three Ps of Quality
1) Quality of Products
2) Quality of Processes
3) Quality of Performances

Quality of Products
How well something is produced is often a hot topic of discussion. Be it the product that you purchase or the quality work of your employees. Both will definitely influence the decision of the buyer or the employer.

Hiding behind unacceptable work does not lead to success. Our children must be encouraged to create the best product they can, as often as they can. They must be shown that school projects, even daily homework assignments, are opportunities to create quality products. They need to feel that they can stand behind their products proudly and say, "Here's my best! Take a look."

How we do what we do helps to define us, and builds our reputation. For example, why do people want to buy Volvo Car (sorry for the bias)? If you have read their review about how they make their cars, you will realise that they have put in lots of time and effort to ensure that they deliver the best to the market, especially in the area of safety. This is what the car makers want the market to know about their product. What kind of person does your child want to be known as? Is he someone who does the bare minimum to get by, or someone who goes the extra mile? Some of us didn't learn the value in doing a quality job until much later in life. Your children shouldn't have to wait to understand the importance of quality.

Quality of Processes
The steps we take to create quality products are just as important as the products themselves. If the process we use or the manner in which we create them is flawed, then the product will be flawed as well. Have you ever wonder why do most of the lifts need to have a safety certificate pasted on the lift's wall? What if one day you took a lift and you read that the safety certificate has expired, will you still take it with confidence? The student who waits until the night before his end-of-the-semester project is due to even begin, is not only putting stress on the entire family, but is undermining the end result. By putting things off to the last minute, a child is encouraged to delay steps, rush through them, or skip them altogether, which almost invariably produces inferior work.
Below are some questions that you can use to guide your child
a) What would this finished product look like if it were done well?
b) How long will it take to complete this project in a quality manner?
c) Would a schedule or timetable help to manage the completion of this project?
d) How much daily time will be required to complete the project?

Check your child's progress with him daily. Adjust his schedule if necessary.

This may seem cumbersome, but many of us are required to complete projects in this very fashion in our jobs. Helping your child develop the habit of following quality processes will set them up for future success.

Quality of Performances
There is a Chinese Proverb saying - Life is like a show. If you are able to view your own life again on a screen, do you think it will be exciting to watch?

Most of us have to present information to people, be it in our job or in some functions or events. It is the same for the children. My daughter told me that her teacher wants the whole class to present something about their childhood, and they need to present without looking at any script. This is not the first time the students were asked to present something. In fact, it is very common for students to do presentations nowadays. The classroom is a good place to practice these performance skills. Interestingly, both products and processes almost always accompany performances.
You may want to use the following questions to define or evaluate a quality performance?
a) How well prepared is the student on the subject matter?
b) Did he stay within the prescribed time (replaceable)  limit?
c) Did he use a variety of media during the presentation?
d) Did he engage his audience during the presentation, either by use of a question and answer session or by some other method of participation, likes games?
e) Did he begin with an introduction and end with a conclusion?
f) Was he enthusiastic about the content of the presentation?

Products, Processes and Performances, all are interlinked.

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