If school isn’t already in session, it soon will be and I’m sure you’re curious what hurdles you may have to face this year when it comes to your child’s motivation to work hard and get good grades.
Ultimately, children are responsible for their own work, but there is a lot the parent can do to help motivate their children to be good students.
First, let your child know that you expect them to do well in school. And by “expect”, we mean reasonable and positive expectations that are tangible for the child.
Second, become aware of your child’s learning style – whether auditory, visual, or kinesthetic – and encourage them to learn with techniques utilizing their best learning style.
Third, help stimulate your child’s curiosity and desire to learn. To do this, take advantage of educational events in your community every single chance you can get.
To help kick start the school year, have your child list out their classes and the goals and grades they hope to achieve by the time report cards come out. This will help your child see the success they’re achieving and ways they can possibly improve.
Make an effort to have daily dialogue about each of your child’s classes. Ask them about homework, whether or not grades were handed back, what tests are coming up, and what class projects there are.
Many times, parents attempt to make their children better students by rewarding and grounding for grades, tutoring, or lectures. These are inadequate techniques to motivate the child. Instead, parents need to get to the real problem and by getting good and correct answers from their kids. Tendency is for kids to lie about how much homework they are doing and what their grades are. Parents need to confront the lying and by confronting the lying, over time the kids will open up and talk more deeply to their parents about motivational issues and we will see improvements and changes to make them better students.
Communication about school is very important for home-school collaboration. Help your children be motivated by being clear about expectations, and inspiring them to value knowledge and curiosity.