How To Motivate A Child

I have two children and, although I love them to bits, I would say that sometimes they need to be motivated to do their homework or to study their notes or help around the house, for example. This article explains how I go about this child motivation. The methods have helped my own children and, I'm sure, they can help other parents in a similar situation. I remember when I met my stepdaughter named Karyn. She was five years old and had a lot of character. I felt a little sorry for him, but he spent a lot of time at child minders. Children used to pick him up from school. Some days his mother could not even collect till 8pm. After a few months of dating her mother, I offered to help by taking Karyn to school and picking her up. Karyn said she wanted me to do it and, it was all agreed. Up until this point, Karyn had never really been made to do her homework, either by her mother who was very busy and often tired or by the childminder. When I picked her up the first day we got home from school, I asked Karyn if she had any homework. She passed me her reading folder. In the folder was a book he was supposed to read. Come on, Karyn, let's read this book together, I said. I don't do homework, Karyn replied. I told her that was in the past and from now on she is doing it. Karyn was a bit shocked and started to cry. You're not my daddy, you can't do this to me, she continued. I basically had to be very strong and make him read the book. There were many words she couldn't read, and I wrote them on a list. We then spent about ten minutes where I tried to teach her the words. He found it all very boring. Then I told him that we will now play a game, called the mouthing game. She would pick a word from the list and just mouth the word without making any sound. If I can guess what his mouth is, he gets a point, and then it's my turn. Karyn really enjoyed this game and when she got home from school the next day, she asked if we could play the game again. Of course, we can, but we have to read the book first, I said. Karyn replied that it was fine. This is just one example of the many games we play while doing homework or any other task that children see as mundane. I also praise both children and tell them how much I love and am proud of them at regular intervals. I reward them when they have a good school report and always encourage them to put things first if they believe they may fail a specific task. In my opinion, there is no such thing as failure if you try your best.