Is your child struggling to get good results in class? They lack a method, get discouraged and are reluctant to get to work. Demotivation does not happen overnight. It often occurs after an effort that has not been rewarded. Here are the different reasons why your child does not stay motivated and how to remedy it.
What causes your child to lack motivation?
When a student works hard but the results do not follow, it is because he has not yet found how to work effectively.
And for good reason, learning to work is still too little taught at school. Students often do not have a clear idea of how to go about it:
improve your concentration.
And yet, being methodical is the basis of all academic success. If a student is not able to make index cards , ask the right questions, identify the key words in an instruction, he will exhaust himself rereading his course over and over again, trying to learn it by heart, only to forget it a few days later.
The first step is therefore to acquire good working methods. Your child must find those that work for him and encourage him to work. These methods are also likely to change depending on your child’s grade level. Where a sixth-grade student is only just beginning to become independent and move from one teacher to another, a first-grade student will need to be able to take notes, plan his week and work alone.
Understanding each other better will allow your child to:
To stay motivated, knowing why you are working, how you are doing it and what it will bring in the end is essential. It is therefore imperative to constantly explain to your child why he is doing things.
We recommend getting into the habit of asking yourself why and how to learn your course before diving head first into rote learning.
It may be interesting at first to make the link between what your child knows and what he is learning to facilitate understanding and memorization.
Fear of failure is strongly linked to lack of self-confidence.
But when we learn, we make mistakes, which is normal. Several scientific studies have shown that the brain learns from its mistakes. It is therefore necessary to understand why this did not work in order to improve :
Working with Others or Alone at Home
Organize group work sessions to create a dynamic of mutual assistance. Explaining a concept to someone else not only allows you to check understanding, but also to reinforce knowledge.
How to help your child stay motivated? Our advice
Parenting is often thought of as a balancing act, requiring guidance without ruffles and support without hurt. For many parents, helping their child stay motivated and excel in school can be a daunting challenge.
Finding the right springs to enhance and motivate him
Your child needs your benevolent gaze to feel confident. He needs you to believe in him. For this reason, do not hesitate to congratulate him for each progress made, whether academic or not, no matter how small. These small victories count and will help him persevere. Prefer sentences such as: “You can be proud of yourself” to “I am proud of you”. In this way, you show him that he has been able to:
To make sufficient efforts to achieve the goal he had set for himself.
Mobilize the resources within him to achieve this. This means that he is learning to know his abilities in order to reuse them better. He will be able to count on himself to succeed better and better.
Worry about how he works, not just about his report card.
Try to share with him as much as possible what he experiences in class. You don’t understand anything? It doesn’t matter, ask him what he is learning, what he understands or doesn’t understand. Be curious about what he is doing, it will be more effective in maintaining his motivation than commenting on the grades on the report card once a quarter.
Encourage him with every step he takes!
Praise your child for every step forward, no matter how small. Focus on phrases that emphasize their ability to make an effort and mobilize their resources. Show them that these small victories count and contribute to their development. Use phrases such as “You can be proud of yourself” to build their self-confidence.
Help him become more independent
As the school years go by, expectations and responsibilities change. Encourage your child to become independent in their learning. Teach them how to plan their studies, set personal goals, and assess their own progress. Autonomy fosters intrinsic motivation because the child feels invested in their educational journey.
Foster an environment conducive to learning
Create a quiet and organized workspace at home. A learning-friendly environment can greatly impact your child’s focus and productivity. Talk to them about how they prefer to study and try to accommodate their environmental needs.
Periods of demotivation or doubt are natural for teenagers. If this happens, let him know that you have noticed his condition but do not harass him while waiting for a reaction that is slow in coming.
Be smart: talk about the future, get him to think about his life plan with the help of career counselors, for example.
Avoid as much as possible direct criticism that leads nowhere. You will notice, for example, that threatening children with failing their studies will not necessarily make them a polytechnician…
If you notice a drop in grades, consider online tutoring like on the Bons Profs website . Don’t hesitate, the first 7 days are free and he will be able to test all the available content at his own pace (course videos, method videos, quizzes, summary sheets, exercises corrected in video).
