3.0 “I love school” – Said no teen ever! 3 tips to increase your child’s motivation in school.

Is your child or student constantly saying “I hate school?” Or perhaps he/she does not like talking about school at all. Is your child or student struggling academically, or experiencing social difficulties with peers? Teachers too? Are you tired of getting phone calls from your child’s school regarding behavior concerns? Well, guess what? You are not alone. A large number of parents, caretakers, and teachers experience similar concerns with their children or students. Firstly, no it’s not because your child thinks he/she is “too good for school”. I don’t know why parents specifically jump to this silly, silly conclusion! Perhaps your teen simply lacks motivation to keep up with school, or he/she could be experiencing something more complex like a learning or behavioral disorder. The key is to detect these problems and address them as early as possible. Difficulties in school could simply be a short-term phase, or it could continue to become a hindrance with no improvement over time. Regardless of the problem area, increasing your child’s motivation in school can go a long way in your child’s academic journey. It could possibly be the answer to all your problems!! Okay … maybe not all … but wouldn’t that be sweet?

Try these three simple tips to hike up motivation in school!!

1. Celebrate success!! Now, I’m not talking about going all out, increasing your credit card debt, and inviting the whole community to celebrate your child’s 3rd placement at the science fair. Kids are expensive, let’s not add to that expense when there’s absolutely no need to. What I am talking about is celebrating the small and big achievements in school. Anything positive in school, celebrate with the simple acknowledgement. “You turned your homework in on time 3 out of 4 times this week?? That’s amazing!” As silly as this sounds – trust me, most of the times what your child craves is positive affirmation. That is all. If you are a parent for whom this is “odd” or atypical – that might be the problem. It is never too late to start focusing on all things positive with your child. Gage your celebrations. When they show the same improvement for a month, go a little bigger with the celebration. For you teachers … Introduce a reward system that is feasible for you, perhaps an extra day to complete homework when they display the desired behavior for x amount of times?

For some reason we all react to negatives much sooner than positives. Anything negative our children do, we automatically address it right away, enforce a punishment, or shout, “why are you such a rotten child!?” I hope we are not saying such things to our children. Sometimes this is why they do not bother. They recognize more than anyone that they are “never” appreciated for their positives. It may not be that we never do, but it’s not nearly enough. And other times they continue the negative behavior because that may be the only attention they are receiving from us. This happens more often than we think! Now, if you are anything like me, you’re already thinking, “this is rubbish, when do we punish them for the bad behaviors and all things negative!?” Well, although I would not call it punishment, I do believe in enforcing consequences for negative behaviors that we want to reduce or eliminate. But that’s a whole other article of it’s own. Remember, we are focusing on increasing motivation here, so consequences are not needed for this goal. Positives, positives, and only positives … make your children aware of their strengths.

Tips 2 and 3 coming very soon … keep an eye out for blog 3.1 (I know you’re all SO excited for the next part)