5 Reasons Why Your Child Has Lost The Motivation To Learn: And What You Can Do About Them..

A child who isn’t motivated to learn will never achieve success.  Young children start out eager to learn, ready to explore the world and make it their own.  But this motivation can disappear quickly and you need to be aware of what causes motivation to change into a lack of interest in learning so that you can prevent your child from falling into the “I don’t care” trap.

Here are the five main reasons why children lose their motivation to learn – and what you can do about them.

1. Passive learners

Children who are passive learners, who wait to be told what to do and how to do it, don’t even know what it feels like to be motivated to do something.  They have no motivation other than waiting to be told what to do next.  They expect to be spoon fed in more ways than one.

Let me tell you a story.  At the start of every school year we had parents who came into school at lunch time to feed their child.  Literally to spoon feed them!  We also had parents who insisted on helping their child on and off with his coat and shoes and who would wait around the classroom door just in case their child needed their help.

The situation got so bad that we had to set a date by which all parents had to leave the school during classroom hours.

Spoon fed children have no motivation to learn.  They are used to having everything done for them and they expect learning to be just the same.  They expect to be spoon fed learning, not to have to do anything themselves.

It can be quite a shock to these children when they realize that they are expected to take some responsibility for their actions.  It can be an even greater shock to parents when they understand that their baby is growing up and does not need them in the same way.

Don’t let your child become a passive learner, allow your child to take responsibility for their actions.

2. Your dream or theirs?

Children are only motivated by things that they want to do or to achieve.  You might want your child to be a famous pianist but unless your child wants this too it just ain’t gonna happen!  Yes, I know that children want to please their parents but it only goes so far.  Children soon get bored of doing what you want them to do rather than what they want to do.

Children are motivated by their dreams.  You may be able to encourage your child to go for one of your dreams but his enthusiasm is only going to last as long as his interest.

Find out what your child’s dreams are (ask them!!) and help your child achieve them.  You can talk about your dreams for your child and try to motivate your child to have the same dreams as you – but don’t count on it!

3. The impossible dream

Children find it difficult to imagine the future, to understand how long it might take to achieve something.  This knowledge only comes from experience, the experience of trying to do things and understanding how long it takes to finish the task.  So don’t let your child set and impossible dream, something that will take forever to accomplish. Or, if you do, make sure that you help your child understand that small dreams can build up to big ones.

That way your child will be motivated to take small steps, to achieve small goals, rather than being discouraged by a seemingly ‘impossible’ dream.

4.  Too much pressure

When children are overwhelmed by the amount of work they have to do they shut down.  Any motivation they may have had disappears under the stress of having to complete assignments.  All students can handle occasional pressure to get things done but when it becomes a way of life motivation, and all that it stands for, goes out the window.

I have known children be under so much pressure from parents that they have rebelled and stopped learning.  I have known students be under so much pressure from teachers that they have closed down, been unable to do any work.

How much pressure is too much?  I don’t know.  But your child will.  As soon as he or she stops wanting to learn you know it is time to take things easy.

5. A learning problem

Children who find it hard to learn quickly lose their motivation to learn.  Why should they continue to be excited about doing something that is difficult and that produces poor results?

There are two reasons children find it difficult to learn:

1. They do not know HOW to learn

2. The way they are taught does not match the way they like to learn.

If you want to know what you can do about this check out my programs.

Motivation is one of the learning skills children need to succeed.

How motivated is your child?