Encourage Self-motivation In Children
Self-motivation is a concept that is not always fully understood. It is more than a way to overcome a lack of interest or react without protesting or making excuses. Self-motivation also involves initiating action and persevering when alone, without needing anyone to push, encourage, reinforce, or bribe you.
Self-motivation to learn occurs naturally in children up to the age of seven. Regardless of what they do, they want to learn and explore (both the world and themselves), so most of the time you don’t have to do anything. But after your child has passed the age of seven or if you see little motivation in him or her, you should encourage the development of self-motivation as this is a skill they will need throughout their lives to be successful.
While self-motivation can only come from within, there are ways to help your child nurture this sense of motivation, giving them an advantage that will benefit them later. Let’s take a look at this.
Encourage self-motivation
Children are more motivated to learn, try new things, and interact with other people if they believe they are capable of doing so. Trusting them is the first step to building their confidence.
If you really want to help your child, give him or her the opportunity to solve problems on their own, to find the solutions to puzzles and to confront them with new situations. If he or she does something wrong, or something not quite as good as it should be or not in the way you would like it to be, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is that your child feels capable of doing it.
Overprotection of the parents and too much involvement causes children to become dependent. It also prevents children from developing self-confidence and lack of motivation to improve.
Encourage perseverance
Reward your child for the effort instead of just focusing on the successes. This will improve their self-motivation. You will help them learn how to adapt so they can deal with failure and keep trying until they succeed.
Persistence is an emotional skill that is the key to success in many areas. Teach your child to accept that sometimes they fail and show them that losing and failing is an opportunity to improve and learn.
Feed their interests
Everyone, including children, has specific interests. Even if they don’t match your expectations or interests, encourage your child to develop and follow them.
Don’t manipulate them into keeping what you think is right for them. Instead, you should help them discover what they like themselves. This gives them the internal motivation they need to stay hopeful, active, and happy. Not only will they be able to do what they love, they will also be able to share it with the people who mean the most to them.
Give them a chance at success
If there’s one thing that motivates us to give our best, it’s the taste of success. Success is addictive. It shows what we are capable of, that we can achieve something, that we can overcome our limitations and be better than we were before.
Apply the doctrine of success to your child. Do you want him or her to learn something new, to be motivated to develop a new skill? Then show him or her that he or she can learn things by trying things you know he or she can do. That way you teach him or her what it’s like to succeed.
If your child achieves a new goal, instead of comparing it to something they haven’t yet, celebrate it and don’t tell them they have a long way to go.
