Monday, 25 January 2010

The Importance of Motivating Children Towards Achievement

By Tobi Miles

The current generation of children in North America is more reliant upon their parents than with any previous generation. They have not been taught achievement motivation from an early age and parents now tend to do everything for their children. From driving them to school, to even cleaning their rooms, this generation needs to develop self motivation in order to allow them to compete with others as they get older. Parents need to be teaching their children age appropriate skills and learning when to let them make decisions on their own and when to encourage them to try new things.

This situation where children are not particularly motivated to master specific things has largely been produced by enabling parents and negative reinforcement caused by inferior parenting techniques. The final result is a large number of children who lack the motivation to accomplish something and to work diligently at developing themselves. The message that these children have been given is that they are very special and shouldn't concern themselves with anything that doesn't interest them, and that others are entirely responsible for their well-being.

Children who aren't taught achievement motivation will find it more difficult to develop motivation skills when they are older. Parents who do everything for their children and continue to do so as they get older aren't using good parenting skills. This needs to be addressed and parents must begin to make changes. From teaching your child to make their own bed to being supportive as they do homework will aid in their ability to finish a task and improve their motivation. It will also increase their self-esteem.

One more way to boost a child's motivation to achieve targeted goals is by bestowing rewards, yet it is equally important to only offer a reward when a certain task has been carried out. That way you do not increase motivation to get things, but rather to achieve something and feel good about the effort made. It is imperative that you never offer a reward if there was a pledge that wasn't met. All your child will learn from this is that your word can't be relied on, and that it's ok to be mediocre.

A role that parents have is to teach their children achievement motivation. Children come with their own personalities, yet parents must spend more time teaching and explaining than just doing things for their children. Motivation and emotion are related. With an increase in motivation from the child to do a task, receive reinforcement, and feel positive about themselves as they achieve greater skills, their attitudes and behaviors will change positively over time.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment