You convey a lot of information by what you praise and how you praise. So if your child is doing her homework and really sticking with it, notice that. Comment on how hard she's working. Pay attention to little bite-sized pieces of progress. As long as we think about competency as something that is relative, there will always be some kids who do well and some who do poorly, by definition.
All kids can improve.
No kid has to be discouraged if you focus attention on what he's learning. More articles on the Print Edition home page Advertisers Choose Menus Location Franch.