Many children have difficulty starting to study even if they know they need to study. The main problem at this point stems from lack of motivation. We can briefly define motivation as the power that motivates a person for a certain purpose. It is important that the child creates motivation rather than expecting it from outside. First of all, it is necessary to tell the child that the purpose is not to study, but that studying is only a tool that will take the child to the goal. The goal here may be to improve your grades and get into the high school or university you want. It is important to encourage your child to find his own goal, but a more important issue is that you should not find your child's goal. To give an example, the desire to get into the desired department of the university of your choice will be the motivation for your child to study. Being motivated does not mean studying at every spare moment of the day or being filled with the desire to study. If your child knows that he needs to study even when it comes to subjects that he does not like, finds boring or difficult, and he sits at the desk, we can say that he has the motivation to study. So, what can be done if your child does not have the motivation to study?
First of all, the child's relationship with technology (phone, tablet, computer, television) should be limited. It is important that the phone or tablet is not in the environment where the child is studying during the study period. This will help your child focus more easily and not be easily distracted. During busy periods such as an important exam, homework submission, or project submission, the child's contact with technology should be maximum 1-2 hours.
Rewarding your child is important in increasing motivation. How can rewards be done? First of all, your child should have a weekly study schedule. At this point, help can be obtained from school guidance counselors. At the end of a weekend, when your child follows his/her schedule to a large extent, you can go to the movies that weekend. If they don't, you need to take away something your child likes to do. For example, you can limit the time he spends on the phone. This doesn't mean punishing your child. It is called negative reinforcer in the literature. This practice is different from punishment. An important point in this section is that when creating a study schedule for your child, they should prepare a program such as "I must finish this subject today" instead of "I must study 4 hours a day". In other words, it is necessary to prepare the program based on the number of questions or topic, not on time.
Some children are more motivated and productive to study in groups rather than individually. If this is the case, let your child study with his friends. They can study at the library or at your home. In order to observe whether it is really productive, you can suggest that the study group meet at your home first.
The fact that your child's circle of friends consists of people who enjoy studying or know that they need to study will increase your child's motivation to study.
Sitting in front of the lesson and not getting up for hours will again reduce the child's motivation and cause him to get tired quickly. It is important to take short breaks while studying. Thus, starting to study with a clear mind will lead to more effective learning. However, care should be taken not to extend the duration of these breaks. If the breaks become more frequent or longer, it will become more difficult to sit down for the lesson.
During the study periods, your child will naturally be bored and will not want to study. Be a companion to your child during these periods. Listen to his problems, his boredom. Emphasize that it is important for your child to study and achieve good success, but that you will still love him if he fails, and that your love has nothing to do with your child's success.
Finally, do not let your child give up. Repeated failures will reduce motivation and cause the thought "I'm failing even though I'm trying." At this point, your child may stop or reduce studying. But the important thing to remember is that studying is a process and even if there are failures from time to time, you need to study regularly to achieve the desired success at the end of the process.
You do all of these, but your child's motivation still remains. If you cannot achieve it or there is no change in its success. Don't forget to get help from an expert working on the problem you are experiencing.
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