What motivates your child?

Each child is different and while some are strongly self-motivated, others are less so and may need a gently encouragement along the way. For many years, it was considered that a little bribery and some rewards could work wonders while punishments were doled out for inappropriate behaviour or poor results. It has now been proven that a far more successful approach is remain positive throughout and to try and nurture your child’s motivation so that he feels a real pride when he does achieve something or completes a job well.

To enable you to nurture your child’s motivation will take time, your whole -hearted interest and support and a keen understanding of what motivates your child so that these points can be successfully developed.

Here we bring you some key pointers to help you:

Teach your child about goals

It can be great fun teaching your child about goals and how they can set themselves small and large and short term and long term goals. It is important that the goals they choose are attainable with effort - but are not impossible to achieve. It is good to discuss goals and maybe share one that you can enjoy working on together. Show your child that their goals excite you and that you have every confidence in them.

And about planning their goals

It is important to discuss with your child the various ways that they can try to achieve their goal. Help them to make a plan with various steps to help them achieve the goal. It is important that the different stages of the plan are achievable as this will give your child a real boost and help them to feel motivated and ready to tackle the next stage.

Encourage healthy competition

From an early stage, it is important that your child feels that competition is positive and good and does not recoil from competition thinking it is negative. When ever your child is in competition with others, be there to cheer them on and help them to deal with their emotions if they don’t win and try to foster the feeling that the important thing about competition is taking part not winning (tricky though this can be!) If you have the chance to take part in a parents’ race at the school or similar, let your child see you enthusiastically taking part and laughing off your defeat – it is a valuable lesson and they will be so proud of you whether you come first, third or last!!

Be interested in them

Even when life gets hectic, it is important to learn about your child’s interests. Talk to them about their interest and learn as much as you can. While they are at school, try and print off a surprise from the computer. If your child loves dinosaurs for example, what better than a dinosaur picture to colour for their bedroom or ten fun facts about dinosaurs! You can even surprise them at meal times with mashed potato shaped like a dinosaur! Little ideas like this really show to your child how much you care and they will get great pleasure from discussing dinos with you! .

Many of your children’s interests will be extremely positive for them – especially if they encourage your child to be physically active. As well as helping to keep them fit and healthy, an interest in a sport will help them to develop their social skills too.

Always celebrate their accomplishments

Whether they have achieved something big like coming top in their class or small like learning how to tie their own shoe laces, always tell your child how proud you are of them. Reward your child for their hard work with an unexpected walk or other outing or extra bedtime bed, but remember that it is their sense of accomplishment that is the best reward.

Remain positive for your child

When your child is pushing to achieve a goal, they will often have moments of self-doubt and loss of confidence. Always be there to reassure them and to fill them with positivity which will definitely give them a much-needed boost. If your child is doing well and achieving their goals, they may suffer from peer pressure so it is good to watch out for this to ensure that this is not causing them stress.

It is important that if your child doesn’t reach one of their goals that you do not respond negatively, but instead teach them that they did their best and that’s what’s important and it is a case of ‘pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again’ – a lesson we have all had to learn!