My Child Is Not Motivated to Study: What Can I Do?

Your kids are growing older, and it means that their responsibility grows along with them. Mainly it relates to doing homework and trying to do their best in class. And here comes the hitch: some children demonstrate the necessary motivation, whereas with others motivation presents a serious problem.

Undoubtedly the role of parents in the child’s completing his or her homework is great, but they should keep in mind not to compel them, because there is a vast distinction between compelling and inspiring to study.

The best way for you to set your child on the learning path and let them acquire useful study-related habits is to motivate them positively – while compulsive behavior may result in the child resenting or resisting studies, and this is not going to help develop motivation.

Once you have found that your kid is lacking motivation, what can be done about it?

1. Avoid annoying the child

An important factor in motivation to learn is never to annoy kids on that score. While there are people who believe that it’s children who usually annoy their parents, the opposite is also true, parents get at children attempting to make them do what they are not eager to.

Power struggle is quite a common occurrence between parents and children. Sometimes it is a sort of a family habit that started in the parents’ homes when they were children. Anyway, you will find this habit very energy-consuming, and you could be exerting that energy (and time!) for a better use.

Also, you can be in the habit of commenting your child’s behavior that might be double-edged – even if you remain unaware of the fact.

If you regularly encourage your kid by telling them they are improving, it can be taken as a positive comment, but it also implies that they are not very good at whatever they are doing. A parent who is given to recollecting how he or she was when they were the kid’s age also says that they were doing better back then, making the child feel inferior.

So you would do better if you suppress your desire to lecture the schoolchild and opt to discuss the issue with them. This is an efficacious measure for involving the child in the problem and thereby helping them to develop a conscientious attitude to learning.

2. Discover what hinders your kid

A schoolchild lacking in motivation has a reason for it, and maybe more than one. It’s up to you to uncover the reasons and invite the kid to work out ideas for solving the problem together, so they could arrange for a happier homework time.

Low motivation can be caused by:

• The material seems too difficult and fails to sink in
• The tasks do not contain enough challenge
• The type of teaching is not fitting to the kid’s learning ability
• School-related anxieties
• Not enough confidence in themselves

3. See to it that study time is easy and fun

Ensure that the child’s study time is comfortable, easy and untroubled, he or she has every facility that helps to proceed with homework, namely:

a quiet place: your kid should have a quiet nook without distractions where he or she can study undisturbed.

Repast: the kid will be unsettled and inattentive if hungry, so it would be a good idea to place at hand some water or juice and a snack to take away the pangs.

The necessary stuff: see that a calculator, pencils, erasers, whatever they may need for their work is around, and the kid won’t get distracted while looking for them.

Look around to ensure there is everything so no excuses will be forthcoming and there is no ground for resisting.

4. Think up various rewards for success

If you suggest a system of rewards your child will have pleasures and toys to anticipate when he or she completes the tasks successfully. You don’t have to think of anything big every day, just set points that your schooler will be collecting to get their reward after they have gathered enough. Use surprise gifts.

5. Control stress

A stressed child will have difficulties in concentration – if they get round to sitting down to it at all, having poor motivation. If you notice that your child is laboring under stress, help them relieve it by staying around them and discussing their feelings and attitude.

Besides, the kid has to have some time for relieving stress each evening. Broach the question of what to do after the task is completed so that the kid can unwind, for instance:

• Take a walk outside
• Play some nice music
• Paint or color

6. Set up a routine schedule

Motivation can greatly depend on well-established routine and structurized day – if you live according to routine, it can exclude a lot of conflicts and arguments from your life. Sans routine, your child or children could put up resistance, cite arguments and create general disturbance. Even when you do have a strict routine, you may need to uphold or alter it time and again.

7. Accentuate learning rather than achievements

Avoid playing up the subjects of grades. Find learning milestones, even small ones, and focus on them.

Make it a special occasion when the kid manages to solve a problematic task, writes a long essay or prepares a big project. As you celebrate each step of the way, motivation gets built up, and the child learns to enjoy coping with school tasks.

You want your child to get accustomed to learning and love the process without overplaying the results. The ability to concentrate and solve tasks is a far more advantageous acquisition.

8. Vary techniques and approaches

Learning is quite a complicated process, and there are no ready-made recipes for successful studies. Look into the studying method your child employs – it is possible that it may be alien to your child’s mindframe, and he or she grows frustrated with the inability to understand the material properly. Anyway, you would do well to give a try to some alternative approaches to find whether they would fit them better.

9. Don’t forget about breaks

It may seem like a wonderful idea to go through all the homework at one sitting, but after a while concentration may drop (which goes for younger schoolchildren most of all). To prevent it happening, cut up the study time into more or less equal periods divided by breaks so that the kid’s mind remains unclogged. See to it that the kid remembers to take a break themselves.

Here are some pieces of advice to make your study break veritably productive:

• Once you have arranged for the breaks, get a timer for a reminder
• Do not allow more than 30 minutes‘ work before a break
• Make your breaks up to 10 minutes long

10. Introduce physical exercise during the break

While studying energy gets pent-up, which is another negative factor that can hinder studying. If the child acquires the habit of regularly doing some physical jerks during the break, he or she will diminish stress and improve general condition in a very short time.

Also, it is good for the kid to work out before the study time – every little bit helps, though it may be only a stroll along the street. Still the blood flow to the brain will improve, consequently improving concentration and sharpening learning abilities.

11. Support your kid all the way

While maintaining communication, look for situations when your kid is in need of your support, so that you can come up with it. First of all, the child will know that you are there for him to listen to; you will know when he or she may need outside help, or you may need to arrange a consultation with the teacher. Once the kid knows that support is always forthcoming, he or she will be confident enough to learn to deal with issues themselves.

12. Heed what you children tell you and express your feelings about their problems

Early teens is the time when children are changing fast, in body as well as in mind. It is often accompanied by a rebellious phase when children behave unpredictably and often problematically. Swift mood changes can result in aggressive and defiant behavior.

Such behaviors do not really deserve serious attention. Instead of taking them at face value, try to get to the core of things. What are their feelings, their opinions on what is going on, how they are going to handle the situations? First of all, you must heed what they say.

In other words, we are supposed to listen to them speaking with full attention. That is, as you are talking, you don’t do anything else. You are not staring at your smartphone, but look at the kid and imbibe what they say. Hang on their lips.

Then, when your kid is talking, you don’t interrupt them. Thereby they realize that you are not keen on dispensing advice (especially unasked), judgment or preaching them.

Parents are wont to believe that children haven’t yet grasped an underlying principle, and once they have done it, they would certainly straighten themselves out. Whereas in reality their teens don’t want to be schooled, they want to know that their parents understand them, which ensures them a safe area where they can consider their issues without worrying about their self-assessment.