Positive Parent Actions Help Kids Maintain Motivation
Most Kids are not naturally self-motivated. When your child’s mindset is not in the right place, even the most fun activities can be a struggle to get to. With that said, here are some strategies to help you work around lack of motivation when trying to get your kid to class.
1. Kids thrive on routine. Making sure they get to their classes on time and reminding them to practice everyday will go a long way in helping them progress and keep motivated.
2. Be mindful of your energy when preparing for and arriving to class. If you are stressed, rushed, or aggravated in any way, this will project the same emotions on your child and you could inadvertently be training them to look at going to class as an unpleasant experience. Be sure to project positive and upbeat energy as you are getting your child ready for class so that everyone looks forward to it being a great part of their day.
3. Be a Good Finder! Pay attention to how you respond to your child’s performance during and after class. Make it a point to look for things that they did well and be sure to talk about those. Of course we want to help them with areas where they have room for improvement, but if we focus too much on these it could create negative feelings and stunt motivation. Be sure to limit criticism after class and instead spend more time talking about things they have done well and positive progress you’ve noticed. Let your child know you are proud of their training! This will help them to learn to look forward to class and training as something that makes both of you feel good.
4. Minimize breaks. You know how when you haven’t been to the gym for a while, it’s difficult to get back at it? Taking breaks from a positive habit such as martial arts training can easily cause kids to lose their momentum and endanger the progress your child has worked hard to achieve. We all need a break in routine once in a while for a vacation or when some other life circumstance gets in the way, but we want to be looking forward to resuming our positive activities as soon as possible.
5. Be a team player in your child’s success by communicating with your child’s instructors. The goal is to foster motivation. Let the instructors know about your struggles so that they can help motivate your child in their training. It takes a village, so don’t be afraid to ask for support!
6. It’s all about the journey! Keep the big picture in mind. Not every day of training will be our best and we may not always get that promotion when we want it. In our journey to Black Belt, we must go though all the ups and downs and it’s important to persevere through them. It can be emotional but nothing worth doing is ever easy. Remind your child why they started training and help them keep their goals in mind.
We have more power than we think in helping our kids stay motivated and on the right path to achievement. As parents, we get caught up in the daily grind, so we sometimes forget that situations like this require attentive and intentional parenting. I hope you find these suggestions helpful. Please feel free to reach out to any of our staff and instructors for help should you ever need it!
Good luck!