5 TIPS TO MOTIVATE YOUR  CHILD TO LIKE SCHOOL

As a parent of school-aged children, I understand that sometimes children are not motivated to give up their unstructured time of leisure to begin a new school year.  However, there are some things you can do to increase their motivation and maintain it throughout the school year.  Here are my top 5 Tips.

1. MAKE STARTING A NEW SCHOOL YEAR A BIG DEAL!

Whether your child is starting school for the first time or it’s their second, third, or fourth year, make starting a new school year a big deal!  Hype it up by expressing how excited you are for a new school year and all they will learn.  Choose a day before school starts and take your child to shop for clothes and school supplies.  This will be a big motivator.  Make it fun by having them choose supplies that are cute or of a favorite character.   You don’t need much:  pencils, pencil sharpener, erasers, crayons, gel pens, a backpack (if they don’t have one already).  Always remember that what you give importance to, your child will notice and likely give importance to it as well.

If you were someone who didn’t like school growing up, use the reasons for your dislike as a teaching opportunity to prepare your child in case they face similar situations.  For example, if you were bullied as a child equip your son or daughter with tools to respond to bullies and increase self-confidence.  For example, teach them what to say to a bully, tell them to seek help from an adult, and intervene as a parent by addressing it with the school.  If you didn’t have many friends and felt lonely, teach your child how to make friends (e.g. how to start a conversation, how to take turns when playing, how to handle conflict and solve problems).  If you suspect your child has a learning difficulty and avoids school for that reason, talk to the school about your concerns so he/she can be tested and possibly receive extra academic support or accommodations.

2. SCHEDULE HOMEWORK, READING OR STUDY TIME

One way to maintain momentum and motivation is to have a designated time for homework.  If your child does not have homework every day, then schedule reading or study time.  I have experimented with homework times and currently, I find that for my children having them complete homework immediately after arriving from school works best.  Of course, a snack (fruit) and a small break are necessary before they start.  I do not allow my kids, or myself for that matter, to turn on the television or play when they arrive home from school.  I find that it is difficult to transition them out of play mode and into homework mode if I allow them to do that.  If I am watching tv they become distracted so in order to help them, I keep it off.  Once homework is done it’s time to relax! Both you and the kids will be happy to have homework out of the way.

3. SIT DOWN WITH YOUR CHILD TO COMPLETE HOMEWORK

Ahhhh, I can hear the sighs now.  You’re tired after a long day of work (in or outside of your home), you just got home from your child’s ballet, soccer, football, baseball activities and sending your kids off to complete homework sounds like a nice break.  Been there! However, sitting down with your child even for the first 15 minutes is conveying a message that school is important enough to put everything else aside to complete.  The short time you put in every night helping with homework will decrease the time arguing over why they have missing assignments or poor grades later in school.

4. PRAISE THEIR WORK, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, OR EFFORTS

This is a big one.  In whatever you do, praise your child’s work! Remember, how you respond to your child will increase the likelihood (or decrease the likelihood) of a behavior happening again.  For example, if you praise your child for completing schoolwork no matter how perfect or imperfect, they will know that their accomplishments make you proud and that will make them feel proud of themselves as well.  They will want to continue completing work because they receive a positive and gratifying response from you.  If your child misbehaves at times, don’t let that get in the way of praising their school accomplishments or any other accomplishment and positive behavior for that matter.

5. HAVE PERIODIC “CHECK-IN” TIMES ABOUT SCHOOL AND OBSTACLES

I cannot stress how important this is.  If the typical “How was school today?” is not eliciting much of a response, consider having periodic “check-in” times with your child.  This can be done once a week or as you notice is necessary.  Find the right time when other children or people are not around and let them know you want to check-in about anything that is going well or not going well in or outside of school.  This can be crucial in finding out important information such as they are being bullied or having peer conflict.  Pay attention to signs that something is bothering them (e.g. they are more quiet than usual, seem easily irritated or annoyed, begin to have bedwetting accidents, start isolating, are teary-eyed, or they clearly tell you they don’t like school).  When you check-in, let them know what you have observed and that you want to help them feel better.  Keep in mind that if symptoms are persistent or getting worse over time, you may need to seek help from a mental health professional to address concerns or give you ideas on how to help your child.  I hope these tips were helpful.  Have a great school year!