The school year has begun, and the topic of motivation of the child to study is most acute for parents. Every year, the requirements for students in schools increase, the program becomes more complicated, the number of circles and additional classes increases, and you want to have time everywhere. But the child does not want all this tension. He wants to do what he is interested in, with pleasure to explore the world without coercion and the pursuit of high marks.
In one of the articles, we have already raised the topic of children’s lack of desire to study at school, talked about the reasons, ways of motivation, gave practical advice. If you have not read, then be sure to follow the link and read, there is a lot of useful information. And today we will continue this topic and tell you how, without making much effort, to stimulate the child’s interest in learning and motivate to study.
The main ways to motivate a child to study
Why do children not want to learn? There is no clear answer to this question, even from experienced teachers. But you can see exactly what this reluctance is: the child forgets what he was asked, does not do his homework, and the school supplies are a mess. In class, he is in the clouds and does anything but study. Most often, these guys do not even care about academic performance and grades.
We will only talk about positive motivation. Otherwise, you can only aggravate the situation and harm the fragile child psyche.
1. Set a personal example
Tell your son or daughter that it’s as hard to work as it is to learn. If a child tells you about his problems and failures, try not just to listen to him, but to draw a parallel with his work, as you find a way out of various difficult situations. Children understand that mom and dad are human and they are interested in listening to what is happening in their adult lives.
And you can also tell how you once went to school, for example, cooked cheat sheets with classmates, but often you did not have to use them, since the material was well remembered while you wrote them.
2. Minimize stress
Stress in schoolchildren leads to intimidation, manipulation, programming for failure, excessive demands and expectations.
Therefore, try to focus not on the assessments, but on what the new child learned. Explain that evaluation is a subjective concept and has nothing to do with your real knowledge and abilities. Not every child succeeds equally well in all subjects and your son or daughter does not have to be an excellent student.
Give an example of what subjects you were given in school hard, and what easy, how you experienced and what you feared, tell about your system of assessments during your studies. It is important that the child does not hold fears and negative emotions, but can calmly speak out and receive support from parents.
Explain that stressful situations happen in life, and they are an integral part of life, but you need to be able to cope with them, not afraid of them.
3. Allow the child to move at his pace
One of the problems of the classical school is equalization. Someone overtakes the program and someone lags behind. But both are forced to move according to a common program, which leads to a lack of motivation in all children.
If your child is ahead of others or, conversely, lags behind, try to find him additional classes with a program at his level, where he can move on and realize his potential.
4. Teach your child to apply knowledge here and now
“You will not study well, you will not find a good job!”, “You need to study well to find a high-paying job and do not deny yourself anything in life” – such messages do not work with children. They live in the here and now and it is important for them to understand the benefits of studying at the moment.
Here you can also give an example from your own life experience and tell how your knowledge of physics helped you buy a family car. Your task was to find a car for the whole family – roomy and fast. What should I pay attention to? Of course, acceleration. In physics, there is such a thing as a constant acceleration – acceleration from 0 to 100 kilometers in a certain number of seconds. And the shorter this time, the faster the car accelerates. If you didn’t know the physics, you wouldn’t be able to find the right car.
And the child can be shown how knowing the multiplication table can simplify his life by explaining that instead of adding 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3, you can multiply 3 by 4 and get the result faster, rather than sitting half a day for lessons.
5. Use non-standard ways of motivation
Motivation to study at school can be stimulated in unusual ways, such as inventing and using your incentive cards.
Think about what relaxation in school you could sometimes give a child and for what. For example, you can agree that the child sits down all week on time for lessons, diligently performs them and receives an incentive card from you, which allows you to choose a day when you can skip school or not do homework on some subject. Each card can only be used once and the terms are agreed in advance. This way the child will feel that you are on his side and always notice and encourage his diligence and success. Be patient, because motivation is a long and difficult process. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a year.
In conclusion, the motivation to go to school should always come from support, not pressure. The child has no desire to learn now – over time, with your support and help, he will understand what he is interested in, and you will be able to direct efforts together in this area. Because the main thing in learning is that the chosen activity brings joy and happiness to children.
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