5
Things You Can Start Doing Today
to Raise a Motivated Learner
By Dolores Smyth
“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
O
ne of the biggest frustrations parents often face
is getting their kids motivated to learn. Whether
it’s mastering multiplication, learning a new
language, or sticking with the soccer team despite riding
the bench most of the season, it can be difficult to get
our kids to be enthusiastic about learning new skills.
Especially when the going gets tough.
Our children’s reluctance to venture into unfamiliar
territory is understandable. Learning new skills can be
frustrating, and failure can be discouraging or, worse,
embarrassing. Research has shown, however, that parents
can help their children more readily embrace challenges
and understand the value of persistence without relying
on excessive external rewards.
Here are five strategies you can start using today to help
your child become a motivated learner:
1. Learning as an opportunity
Over three decades of research has shown that there is
a direct correlation between what a child thinks of her
10 | F L A G L E R parent M A G A Z I N E
abilities and that child’s willingness to face challenges,
according to Carol Dweck, a psychology professor
at Stanford University and a pioneer in the study of
motivation in relation to achievement.
As Dweck’s extensive research with children has found,
when children see their abilities as fixed and not subject
to improvement, they worry that their intelligence will
be questioned whenever they fail or exert too much
effort to learn a skill. As a result of this “fixed mindset,”
these children view challenges and mistakes as potential
sources of “looking dumb,” and lose confidence and
motivation when the work stops being easy.
However, children who believe that the harder they work
at something, the better they’ll get at it see obstacles
as opportunities to add to their skillset, not as potential
blows to their self-confidence. Dweck refers to this
mindset as the “growth mindset.”
Children with a growth mindset understand that effort is
necessary to succeed.