How To Encourage Self-motivation In Your Child
The sense of being capable is constantly built and reinforced by the child doing things repeatedly until they feel mastered. But many rigid education systems do away with this innate motivation by imposing certain external rewards for learning. Therefore, as a parent, it is important to know how to encourage self-motivation in your child.
We must understand how motivation works and strive to promote it in children. Their curiosity helps them understand their world and how they should adapt to it, learn what to do, how to do it, and what helps them get ahead.
The brain releases dopamine when we have rewarding experiences; This happens, for example, when we wait for something important to happen, we wait for something to improve, advance or for an achievement to take place. It is right here when an individual begins to feel motivated.
Types of motivation
Intrinsic (internal) motivation
It is crucial for school learning. It has two fundamental components: feeling capable and having control over the environment. A child derives pleasure from participating in activities that are interesting, attractive, and satisfying to him.
As a result, you are encouraged to learn, to take initiative, to stick with a task, and to complete it. A higher level of internal motivation causes you to seek challenging tasks; this will make you dislike doing easy tasks.
The child learns because it is important to him. Things like concentrating too much on good grades, or learning without understanding the purpose of learning will decrease your intrinsic interest, motivation, and willingness to learn independently.
Extrinsic (external) motivation
This motivation causes a child to seek approval from parents, teachers, or peers. It creates fears with negative consequences and diminishes genuine interest in learning. It is the one that appears when the child is pressured to obtain high grades or to seek opportunities and privileges.
It takes the fun and enjoyment out of the experience and feeds on a limiting negative thought : “I have to please someone, avoid punishment, or get a reward.”
So a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is usually what works best. For example, a child may feel motivated when interested in an activity while seeking approval from his teacher or peers as an incentive.
How to encourage self-motivation in your child
Have realistic expectations
You have to take into account the personality and temperament of the child. It is important to help him become the best version of himself and not what we want him to be. We should encourage him for what he is and appreciate what he can do, and not expect unrealistic things.
Increase confidence to encourage self-motivation in your child
We must give our son opportunities to feel good about himself, especially to feel capable. Whenever a child’s curiosity is aroused or he tries to try something new or make a decision, we must respond by encouraging him, respecting his amazement and supporting him with his excitement to know. Confidence in our children is essential to achieve good self-motivation.
It is important to work hard
We must teach him things like not to give up easily, to follow through when there is a setback, and that fostering self-control is important. We will help you in your quest to find what you can do well and encourage you as sincerely as possible.
Help set goals
Having goals improves performance, concentration, and effort. So, we must teach him to create his own goals. Small goals work best, they can gradually push our child to seek and enjoy challenges. At the same time, we will teach you that progress is the result of effort, perseverance, and determination.
Appreciate every little achievement to encourage self-motivation in your child
We will appreciate these small achievements of our son by sharing them with people who are important to him. These secure relationships will give our child the courage to explore and learn more about his world, and increase his understanding of how to function in his environment. When we express a compliment, it will always be sincere.
Develop a growth mindset
We will develop this growth mindset by teaching our child that intelligence is not a fixed trait and that progress can be made with effort and practice, that learning can be made after failure.
Finally, it is important to remember that by fostering self-motivation in your child, your child will learn important life skills, skills such as concentration, attention, problem solving, self-control, and planning and organization.
