One of the most common challenges faced by parents these days is how to get their children interested in studying when most of the time they go by the “I don’t want to study” attitude. This makes it a little difficult to develop self-motivation for students. To motivate kids to study, it becomes important for parents and teachers to first understand why kids lack motivation and then focus on how to grow interest in studies to develop their motivation for studying.
Table of Contents
- Why Children Lack the Motivation To Study?
- Simple Ideas That Can Help in Increasing Interest in Studies.
1. Understanding What They Like Best About Their School.
2. Creating a Study Plan for Kids.
3. Engaging Kids in Motivational Activities.
4. Creating a Reward System.
5. Starting With Goal Setting.
6. Taking Breaks.
7. Developing Intrinsic Motivation in Children and Self-Motivation Tips for Students.
Why Children Lack the Motivation To Study?
Let’s first try to understand why kids don’t want to study?
- There is an excessive workload with no breaks.
- They feel lazy to work and study.
- They do not have the proper resources to study.
- Students do not understand what is being taught.
- Children do not have a proper schedule and routine to study.
It’s important to understand that to develop self-motivation for students, both intrinsic (internal) as well as extrinsic (external) motivation is necessary.
Let’s look at some simple ideas that can help in increasing interest in studying.
Simple Ideas That Can Help in Increasing Interest in Studies
1. Understanding What They Like Best About Their School
- One of the basic tenets of developing motivation in children is understanding what children like about their immediate learning environment.
- Parents and teachers should proceed by first understanding what subjects they like, what is the importance of school for a child and what makes them happy in that environment. After this parents or teachers can work on incorporating the fun aspects of their environment into their study schedule.
- For example, A child likes studying English and more so they like doing it with their friends in school, so one of how parents and teachers can develop their motivation level is by having study sessions with their friends which can act as an external motivator for them to study and concentrate on the task at hand.
2. Creating a Study Plan for Kids
- For some children, having a study plan and a routine set can work as one of the techniques of motivation while for others, change and trying new things can be motivation.
- Over here it becomes important for both parents and teachers to understand what works for their children.
- Having a study plan and a set routine can boost concentration, help in developing interest and ultimately boost the motivation level of children.
- To make sure that your child stays motivated, sit with them and work through a kid’s study plan that they like because that will enhance their chances of being motivated even more. At the same time, even if having a study plan is not your child’s cup of tea, try to incorporate changes and bring new ideas into their study schedule to enhance their studies and motivation level.
3. Engaging Kids in Motivational Activities
- Studying all the time can be very draining for kids and in turn, lead to a lack of motivation and loss of concentration for most of them.
- Hence it becomes important to engage kids in motivational activities that keep their interests alive.
Some of the activities that can be done to keep kids engaged are:
- Dividing the Large Tasks Into Smaller Ones:
This process which is commonly known as chunking can work wonders in keeping kids active and motivated. This involves breaking the task into small parts and keeping a checklist that they can tick off their tasks. This will keep them engaged and they would be more motivated to complete those tasks. - Project-Based Learning:
Rote learning doesn’t give the experiential learning that is required in the real world. Hence engaging in tasks that are more project-based like engaging with the community, working for the well-being of others, having innovative tasks that involve practical learning of theoretical subjects such as interviewing someone accomplished for a social science project or making the best out of the waste for science project will keep students motivated and expose them to new things and develop new learning experiences. - Fun and Engaging Games:
Breaking the monotony and allowing children to go out and play, or engaging them in classroom games as a group can be beneficial in keeping kids engaged and developing their interest in studies.
Related Article: How To Improve The Concentration And Memory Power of Children
4. Creating a Reward System
- Reinforcements can go a very long way in keeping kids motivated to keep studying.
- Years of research have shown that when there are rewards following any behaviour, it’s always likely to enhance the chances of that behaviour happening again. In the same manner, getting praise or time out with friends after a one-hour study session can be motivating for them to learn new things.
- These reinforcements can include rewards such as giving a new and interesting quiz to solve after doing one’s least favourite subject, allowing them some time out to play after they are done learning for their tests, cooking one’s favourite dish after they complete their math homework among many other things.
- These reinforcers can help in maintaining one’s motivation level to study and complete work on time. These extrinsic motivational factors are sure proven to work every time.
5. Starting With Goal Setting
- Goals have their way of keeping motivation levels up. But what becomes important over here is understanding what’s essential for the child.
- Developing a list of goals for academics that the child is very much interested in can help in developing good motivation levels. Even for things or subjects that the student dreads, there is always a way to incorporate them into your list of goals with rewards that will motivate them to work.
- Goals are like checklists that give an adrenaline boost whenever one is achieved, hence parents who are struggling with how to develop an interest in studies for their children should start with simple goal-setting exercises.
For example– One can start with developing goals for the day, by allotting time to different subjects and assignments in the day and keeping a checklist to tick them off and including small rewards with it. By starting small, kids become more and more engaged and motivated with every single task.
- Parents can also develop short-term goals like learning a new language acing a new math problem or learning vocabulary and long-term goals like scoring good marks and getting into a new college.
Knowing the rewards and consequences associated with every goal achievement works as a boosting factor for their motivation levels.
6. Taking Breaks
- Breaks are just as important as studying. They also help in keeping intact the motivation level of kids.
- Having regular study breaks can help in growing interest in studies. Parents and teachers should ensure that children get regular breaks between studying to keep kids engaged and to develop their self-motivation
7. Developing Intrinsic Motivation in Children and Self-Motivation Tips for Students
Even though extrinsic motivation is important to maintain a certain level of motivation, intrinsic motivation is what works in the long run-up. Hence developing self-motivation for students becomes important.
Here are a few ways in which this can be done-
- Helping the child in understanding their responsibility towards studying and the benefits associated with it.
- Building a sense of healthy competition among them.
- Discussing with them what matters for their future.
- Understanding their interest and giving them the chance to explore them.
- Making them study independently so that they understand their learning style and what matters to them, will build their internal motivation to study.
This pdf on simple techniques of motivation is a very useful read to develop motivation in children.
Following these tips can make them motivated to learn new things and help them in developing an interest in their studies. It can improve kids’ performance, their concentration levels and keep them disciplined. Parents and teachers can adopt these simple ideas when they have to deal with a child who is not interested in studies.
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Starting with goal setting can help in making studying streamlined and less boring. To overcome laziness, it is important to have a timetable, proper schedule, organization and a reward system that motivates one to study.
Everyone has their own schedule and preference for study time. Hence, one should try and see what suits them best. Generally, studying in the morning hours is seen as being very effective because one is fresh and is able to concentrate properly. Students are likely to learn and retain more in the early hours of the morning.
It could be due to a lot of reasons. Excessive workload, laziness, and not having a proper schedule and routine and proper resources to study may make children lose interest in their studies.
It is important to understand that taking small breaks in between studying and having a proper timetable and schedule for your studies can help in creating consistency and can help in covering large portions of the studies without getting tired.
Yes. Having a schedule can help in maintaining consistency while studying, it can make one organized and in tune with what they are studying. It can make studies worthwhile as one might be able to manage their time and study effectively covering all the topics.
