EDUCATION
HOW TO ENCOURAGE – AND MAINTAIN –
YOUR CHILD ’ S MOTIVATION AT SCHOOL
IF YOU HAVE A CHILD WHO IS STRUGGLING AT SCHOOL AND DOESN ’ T SEEM TO BE MOTIVATED TO MAKE AN EFFORT , THE FIRST THING YOU WANT TO DO IS EXPLORE WHETHER THERE IS SOME OBSTACLE GETTING IN THEIR WAY . LEARNING ISSUES , SOCIAL CHALLENGES , ATTENTION OR EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS CAN ALL CAUSE KIDS TO DISENGAGE ACADEMICALLY . BUT NOT ALL KIDS WHO ARE UNDERPERFORMING IN SCHOOL , AND THEREFORE MAY NOT BE LIVING UP TO THEIR POTENTIAL , HAVE A DIAGNOSABLE PROBLEM . AND THERE ARE A NUMBER OF THINGS PARENTS CAN DO TO HELP MOTIVATE KIDS TO TRY HARDER .
Get involved
As a parent , your presence in the academic life of your child is crucial to their commitment to work . Do homework with them and let them know that you ’ re available to answer questions . Get in the habit of asking them about what they learned in school , and generally engage them academically . By demonstrating your interest in your child ’ s school life , you ’ re showing them school can be exciting and interesting . This is especially effective with young kids who tend to be excited about whatever you ’ re excited about . Teenagers can bristle if they feel you are asking too many questions , so make sure you are sharing the details of your day , too . A conversation is always better than an interrogation .
Likewise , it ’ s important to stay involved but give older kids a little more space . If you ’ re on top of your teen all the time about homework , they may develop resistance and be less motivated to work , which could lead to a strain on your relationship – a consistent but softer approach is useful here .
Use reinforcement
Many parents are nervous about rewarding kids for good work , and it ’ s true that tangible rewards can turn into a slippery slope . But there are ways to use extrinsic motivation that will eventually be internalised by your child . Kids respond really well to social reinforcers like praises , hugs and high fives , which then encourage them naturally to want to achieve more because they ’ re aware of the attention that will follow .
Ken Schuster , PsyD , a neuropsychologist at the Child Mind Institute , encourages parents to use rewarding activities that would have probably occurred either way but placing them after a set amount of time doing homework . He suggests treats that are easy to provide but that your child will enjoy , such as going for ice cream or choosing some snacks for a family film night . He also recommends breaking work up into chunks and using small breaks as rewards for getting through each chunk .
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