How to Get Your Kids Loving to Learn
Is your child committed to their learning schedules? Not all children feel like they’re committed to learning because learning can be tedious. Think about it; sitting in a classroom all day long and having people speak at you rather than engaging with you can take the fun and the joy from learning. If your kids are at school right now, they may feel this way, with a lack of motivation to achieve.
They can become numb to what they are learning and do enough just to get by rather than do things because they love them. It doesn’t matter whether or not your child is acting like this right now, you can still dig deep and find their influence and desire to learn. Some children thrive with numbers whereas others love science reading comprehension activities and would love to know more. The important thing is that you want to do everything you can to help your child to love learning again. We’ve put together a list of strategies so that they can gain back that love of learning.
Model this behavior. If you want your children to love learning then you need to model it. Just because you’re not in school anymore doesn’t mean that you’re not learning every day as an adult. Watching YouTube videos and teaching yourself how to cook complicated meals, for example, is a nice way to learn. If your children can see that you are learning, let them know early on that you expect them to take school seriously and you expect them to learn as well. Their learning is a priority, and you have to show them that.
Help them to develop their internal motivation. When your kids express an interest in a topic, a subject, or a career in the future, branch out those questions and ask them what they would need for those jobs. What do they need to learn? What skills are important? Help them to uncover their reasons for committing themselves to their learning.
Learn with them. It’s been a long time since you’ve been at school, so sit with them and spend time with them and learn what they’re learning. Do jigsaw puzzles and teach them how to repair appliances and teach them how to cook. Give your kids the skills that they will need to go into adulthood as independent individuals rather than going into adulthood having everything done for them. And then ask them to teach you something about what they’re learning. It doesn’t matter what the subject matter is, as long as they are excited about it.
Plan your vacations around education. It’s so much fun to go to the beach, but if you can go to a city and go to museums, galleries, and historical sites, your children will be learning and having fun while they do it. They won’t even realize they’ll be learning in the first place. Of course, you can still incorporate theme parks and beaches to your trip, you should always do that! But that doesn’t mean it’s the only thing that you should be doing.
