Leading by Example: The Motivation for School Your Kids Need

As a father, it’s your job to help your children develop the skills they need to make good choices and achieve their objectives.

But, when it comes to inspiring motivation for school in teenage children, it’s not always clear how to do that effectively. You might consider rewards and threats as a way to motivate them to work harder.

But, these methods often only work in the short-term. Instead, it’s far better to focus on ways to help them develop their own intrinsic motivation for school and learning.

Here are some great ways to get your teenage kids motivated about school.

Be a Good Role Model

Making things about you is not how to motivate children in school.

But, you should be aware of how your own motivation levels can influence those of your child. If you leave things to the last minute and tend to slack off, this is not a good message to send to your kids. Similarly, complaining about your time at school or your job can also have a negative effect on your child.

Make an effort to get organized and complete tasks on time. Focus on sharing more about the positive and motivating areas of your life. If you don’t love your job but enjoy running or photography, talk about what motivates you to improve and progress.

By demonstrating your resolve, determination, and passion, you can help show your children how to find motivation for school.

Encourage Them to Set Goals

Older children and teenagers can really benefit from setting their own learning goals. They also feel a deeper sense of control over their schoolwork by understanding how and why these goals are important.

Learning research shows that students with a sense of purpose persisted longer with even the most mundane tasks. This was because they understood the value of these tasks to their long-term goals.

Encourage your children to identify their own academic goals beyond external, short-term drivers such as grades. Instead, their focus should be on intrinsically-motivated objectives that center on purposeful learning.

For example, one goal might be to complete a set of equations without a calculator. Or, your child might aim to improve their language skills enough to watch a Spanish movie without subtitles.

Focus on Daily Habits

Sometimes, teenagers can focus so much on their final grades and college admissions that they fail to manage their daily tasks effectively. As a result, they can feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and unmotivated.

Positive daily habits such as organizing papers, prioritizing tasks, and creating to-do lists help children gain control. As they begin to establish a good balance between the challenges of schoolwork and their abilities, they feel more competent and confident.

As a parent, you don’t want to micromanage how your children spend their time. But, if you see them struggling or they ask for advice, explain how breaking up tasks into smaller chunks helped you learn. You might even want to buy a high school diploma to help add weight to your wisdom.

Get Involved

As your children get older, it’s not always possible to help with homework. Especially if they’re learning about things you never understood the first time around!

But, if you’re wondering how to get your child to do better in school, one way is to inspire their interest in learning. And, the best way to do that is by showing them you’re interested in it too.

Get involved by asking your children what they’re learning about at school. Explaining it to you often encourages them to become more engaged and motivated about what they’re learning.

That said, some teenagers aren’t keen on questions about school. If that’s the case, share details about your day too. That way they’ll see it’s a conversation rather than an interrogation.

Allow Them to Pursue Their Passions

The best motivation for a child or teenager comes from within. And, this intrinsic motivation is often easier to find when it comes to their interests outside of school. But, allowing your children to pursue those passions can help their academic motivation too.

Giving children the freedom to explore their own interests helps them develop greater self-esteem and confidence. And, by investing time and energy into these activities, they’ll also see how perseverance pays off.

This personal development encourages them to seek their own learning path. They’ll place a greater value on their educational objectives.

Extracurricular activities help connect what they learn at school with life outside of the classroom. And, through both abstract learning and self-discovery, children become more curious, motivated and competent when it comes to their schoolwork.

What’s more, these interests may even lead to a career path that they’ll find both fulfilling and motivating.

Praise Their Efforts

When was the last time your boss said “thank you” or “well done?” We’ll bet it was a while ago. Which might explain why 70 percent of workers would prefer more recognition to a higher salary.

No matter what our age, we all need to hear praise from time to time. And, when it comes to motivating children in school, bribes, rewards, and threats of punishment are nowhere near as effective as positive encouragement.

When you are encouraging your children, focus more on the effort your child puts into their studies rather than their results. Teach them instead that good results are their own reward.

And remember to be descriptive with your encouragement too. This way your child will know exactly what part of their behavior is being praised.

Encourage persistence, and show your children that you value their attempts at difficult or new tasks. Praising them for persevering to complete things they’re not sure about can help show them how to find pleasure in working to achieve goals.