Do you wish that sometimes, your child would get on with their homework without you having to nag them and then ask yourself How to Keep your Children Motivated at School?
If so, then you are certainly not alone.
Many children, when they start school, are very similar to sponges.
They are eager to learn, and they want to soak up as much knowledge as possible.
When your kids get older though, you may find that their level of motivation wanes and that all of a sudden, schoolwork is seen as being more of a chore.
This can be frustrating if you are a parent because you want your kids to achieve their full potential.
One major factor when it comes to your child doing well in school is their ability to self-motivate.
If you can focus on this, then everything else will come easier.
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What will Impact your Children’s Motivation?
There are many reasons why your child becomes less motivated as time goes on.
It may be that your child once found something easy but now finds it difficult.
This is especially the case when you look at schoolwork because the difficulty increases with time.
On top of this, you have more and more homework being assigned, and this can encourage them to do the bare minimum.
This usually happens when schoolwork begins to encroach on the things that they love.
With all of this, you have your child’s level of self-belief.
Sometimes when children are struggling with something, you may end up compounding the problem.
If your child is having a hard time with math, you may say that “it’s fine” and that as a child, you were never good at math either.
Although your intentions are good, you may make them feel as though there is no point in trying at all.
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If you want to have a positive impact on your child, then this guide will help you to encourage them to do well.
Encourage Effort
Your child will feel more satisfaction if they have achieved something hard when compared to achieving something that is easy.
Take the time to remind your child how good it feels to achieve something and encourage them to strive, even if there is a difficult road ahead.
If they have been successful, then make sure that you celebrate this so that you can reward them and encourage them to do the same again.
Feed Curiosity
If you know that your child has a passion for something, whether it’s science or even music, you may find that they have more natural motivation to do it.
This can help you to try and instill some good habits.
Help them to explore any curiosity they have, even though at times, it may seem strange or odd to you.
The more you do this, the more motivation your child will have.
Be Curious
If you want your child to be motivated, then you need to demonstrate that same behavior yourself.
Your child’s chances of experiencing success in a certain area are greatly enhanced if you know that you have a passion for it as well.
If your child is passionate about trying to learn the piano, then don’t just book them in for lessons and leave them to it.
Instead, try and be involved with their practices and also let them see you trying to learn the instrument yourself.
After all, if you can’t get motivated, then how can you expect your child to be motivated?
Build Self-Esteem
Don’t say that it’s okay they’re not good at spelling.
This will compound the lack of self-belief that your child has, and it may end up working against them.
Instead, tell them that you understand how hard they are finding things right now and that you are willing to work with them to help them through this very difficult time.
If you can do this, then you will soon find that they end up becoming more successful.
Put a Focus on the Future
As your child gets older, or when they attend secondary school, you can easily try and challenge their lack of motivation by showing them how important it is to work hard.
Your child needs to be reminded that the work that they are doing now is helping to pave the way for the future.
You also need to put in the effort to tell them that the more work they do now, the more options and choices they will have in the future.
This can be a very effective way for you to help them to achieve their true potential.
Support Them
If you hold your child’s hand throughout every single piece of homework, then this may help them to get it done, but at the same time, it won’t help them with their level of self-motivation.
You need to guide and support them, but at the same time, you have to make sure that you don’t take over.
They have to be able to do it for themselves, and they also need to be able to really push themselves too.
Celebrate the Effort
If you know that your child is finding it hard to motivate themselves, then it can be tempting for you to try and offer incentives.
This can include giving your child pocket money if they do well at school.
The issue with bribing your child is that you may reward them for the mentality that they just need to “win the game”.
Your child may begin to cheat because it’s a way to fast-track that reward.
If you want to try and do something about this, then you need to reward your child with praise and encouragement as opposed to something much more concrete.
Ask Questions
You can really encourage your child to love learning by simply showing a genuine interest in whatever they are doing.
You have to make time to talk where possible.
Don’t ask them what they did at school, ask them what they learnt and also ask them what they found interesting.
If you can do this, then you will be able to start a dialogue, and this will help them to see the value in their study.
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