Study Strategies that work
23 helpful tips to motivate your child to study better
Don’t we all wish that our children should have an inner motivation to study just like they have for video games or screen time?
Have you noticed that our children really work hard for their favourite activities because it is really important for them?
The truth is, that most of the times children are motivated, but not really in the way you feel they should be.
What parents can do is to help their children identify their interests, favourite style of learning and encourage and reward them appropriately.
Here are 23 strategies that will help you motivate your child to study better:
Focus more on what they are learning, instead of getting annoyed at your child's average or poor scores. Ask your child what they learnt at school and ask them to explain it to you. Pretend you are the student, and let your child pretend to be the teacher. A child retains better when you correct them respectfully, whenever they go wrong somewhere. I do this with my daughters, and trust me it's something that they really look forward to during the day.
Maintain a positive and respectful relationship with your child. You must play from your child's side, don't play against them. I am sure you want to make your child feel responsible for their studies, however when you react to your frustration and fear, it will make your child resent and defy you.
While you are taking care of your office or house work, make your child sit with you to the study. Avoid using mobile or laptop during this time. This will make your child feel that you are in it together.
Please remember, taking care of the homework is not studying. Studying should really involve repeating the lessons, understanding the context, reading out loud, understanding the Hard words, and revising the answers and revising the answers orally or by writing
Make a time to discuss the subjects with your child. Without being intimidating, ask them what they studied at school today and whether there was something that they found really interesting. One very important thing to do at this time is to share and discuss your own school stories. This will help your child understand that this is something that you have experienced too.
This is what I always do on a parent teacher meeting. I always ask the teacher if there is something that my child needs to work on and if needed I ask her for tips that could help me help my child. Try to do this while your child is around you. Device a strategy with the teacher, that could help your child with studies.
Make sure there is no sound of music or the television. Tell the other family members to talk softly and avoid any distractions during the study hours. Before your child establishes a study pattern, where they are not easily distracted, it's wise to create a conductive environment for them as ideally children's attention span is quite short.
When plan to buy a study table and chair for your child, take your child along with you. Seek your child's suggestions and advice over little day to day matters. This is a great way to help your child feel respected and independent,
Find out what works for your child. Check with your child if they like to study in their room away from the others in the family or they are happier to be around them. Once you are able to find your child's comfort space you must make a peaceful arrangement with other family members. When there are constant interruptions and distractions it may break the chain and shake your child's interest and focus.
Show your child examples from everyday life and focus on what your child understand about the concept.
Constant preaching or threatening have proven to be quite an ineffective style of parenting. Try to be specific and give out precise, short and clear instructions. Punishing doesn't help too. I will share in the coming days on how to creatively replace punishment with effective strategies.
Celebrate the hard work instead of celebrating the results. I am saying this from experience. My elder one struggles with Hindi, and she worked really hard for her exams. When she stepped out of the exam room I asked how her exam was. I learnt that it didn't go that well, due to which my daughter felt disappointed. I instantly told her that we must go and celebrate her hard work. This insured that my daughter understood how working hard was more important than scoring 100%. This teaches a child the importance of not giving up and that failure must not stop or disappoint us. Rather, it should be taken as a learning experience, as it eventually helps us understand about the strategies that didn't really work for us.
Help your child figure out their goals. You can download a free goal setting sheet from below this post that will help your child understand their goals better. Make your child fill the sheet and stick it to a wall or cupboard. When a child reaches a goal, it will give them a sense of achievement with each passing day and it will also give you an understanding about their progress.
Read with your child stories about inspiring people. Understand the journey of their wins and struggles together. Discuss how the discussed inspiring person learnt from the failures and turned them into success.
The reason why most children are unable to concentrate is the fact that they dislike reading. Find out their interests and get them some really interesting books to read. Create an interesting reading corner where your child and you can sit together to read. Before your child develops interest in reading, I advise all my clients to Grab a book for themselves as well and sit next to their child while they are reading. Leading by example is great way to influence your kids effectively.
Manipulating the children does not work at all, but being assertive has proven to be quite effective as per the extensive researches. Every time there is a negative experience or a negative interaction with your child, you must try to create at least 10 positive ones so your child feels motivated and not belittled.
Instead of trying to blackmail or threaten your child with sentences like " listen to me or else...", use sentences like " we can go to the playground, once you read this lesson...". This will teach your child their life's biggest lesson:"You get rewarded for the hard work!".
If your child finds a particular lesson interesting, device ways to increase their interest in it. You can look for educational audio/video resources online. I know I said we should keep the gadgets away while studying, but I really believe that we should teach our children how to effectively and wisely use gadgets. Gadgets, if used wisely at an early age will ensure that your child does not get into toxic usage of the same when they grow up.
Dig into some interesting moral stories and read them to your child every night. Now here is where you need to act smart! Find out moral stories that would pass on the message you want to convey to your child. There are quite a number of resources available online for the same, in case you don't have such books available at home. Try not to complicate this and read the stories that are easy-to-understand.
Doing a barter deal with a child will only temporarily make them do things according to you. In fact it will create a problem for you in the future. This will make your child stubborn every time you don't fulfil their wish.
If you are sitting and chilling while watching Netflix, you are not giving your child any reason to continue the hard work. Instead make sure that you set aside some study time during the day. Talk to your child about their school activities, go through you their books and notebooks and check with your child if they need any help. When a parent participates in study related activities, the child naturally understand that studies are important.
Children develop aversion towards studies when they feel stressed while doing it. Understanding how there are challenges while working hard, is what will make them reach their goals when they grow older.
Lastly, give lots of love to your child and support them immensely and unconditionally. Hug them every time you see them struggle. Kiss them for no reason. Love is a powerful tool that all parents must use everyday.
Get on a discovery session With Life Coach Preet and discover new horizons. Reach me on Instagram to book one to one session or a group session.
Much love,
Preetjyot Kaur
𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 ( 𝗖𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱) 𝗡𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 EXPERT (𝗡𝗟𝗣),𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗸𝗶𝗱𝘀, 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 & COACH FOR TEACHERS
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