A good learner isn’t born, they’re conditioned to become one.
Sure, a child’s individual personality can play a huge role in their willingness and overall interest in learning as a whole, but most children who love studying had to become good learners at some point.
Here are 4 proven tips to motivate your lazy child to study:
1. Encourage open and sincere communication
Create an open atmosphere where your child feels comfortable expressing his opinions (in an appropriate manner) about what he likes, dislikes, or concerns, about his education. When he or she does speak out, make sure to validate his feelings – even if you disagree. It’s when they feel their voice is being heard that they become good learners, children who know that their opinions do matter and they can express them without being ignored, discouraged, or judged.
2. Let your child sit in the driver’s seat
We’re not breaking any traffic laws here. What we mean is that when it comes to education, all kids dislike having zero control over what they are learning and they tend to withdraw. It’s important that you allow your kids some control of their own learning experience. Provide him or her learning options – for example, when assigning an essay project, allow them to choose which topic they should write about.
Learning isn’t supposed to be done merely out of routine, it’s a series of happy discoveries and explorations as you learn more about things that excite and pique your interests.
3. Capitalize on your child’s interests
Learning becomes fun when you focus on what areas or subjects your child is interested in. Encourage them to explore things that fascinate their minds. Help them find interesting books on these topics and challenge them to give a summary afterward about what they just learned about dinosaurs or the solar system for example.
4. Cultivate an atmosphere of reading
Children who develop a love of reading, develop a love for learning. Consequently, children who struggle with reading, struggle with learning.
Reading helps your kids build a richer vocabulary and learn how to process various concepts as well as how to communicate them. Students who read well do not only excel in the language arts, but also in other subjects, such as math and science.
You can cultivate an atmosphere of reading by filling a big chunk of his world with books. Read to your child frequently, have your child read something out loud, or create a family book club where everyone focuses on reading for 20 minutes a day. Let your children pick what kind of books they want to read, help them read, and supplement them with activities that make reading much more fun and engaging.
