I have two children and even though I love them to bits, I have to say that at times they need motivating to do their homework or to help out around the house, for example. This article describes how I go about this child motivation. What we have been attempting to do, as explained within this article, have proved to be extremely successful in helping our own children and I am more than confident that they could be beneficial to other children.
Now I do not work with children and therefore would certainly not class myself as any sort of expert. I am a speech coach by day helping people that have a stuttering problem to achieve fluency. I also work on various other projects including helping a company that offer a DVD duplication and also within the fostering services UK sector.
I remember when I met my step-daughter, she was five years of age and quite a character. I felt a bit sorry for her however as she spent a lot of time at a childminders. The childminder would take her and pick her up from school. On some days her mother would not be able to collect her until around 8pm.
After a few months of dating her mother, I offered to help out by stating that I could take her to school and pick her up. My step-daughter said that she wanted me to do this and it was all agreed.
Up to this point she had never really been made to do her homework, either by her mother who was very busy and often tired or by the childminder.
When we arrived home from school on the first day of me picking her up, I asked her if she had any homework. She passed me her reading folder. In the folder was a book which she was supposed to read. OK; we can read the book together; I suggested. Mummy does not make do any homework, she replied. This was rather a shock to me as was the attitude with which she had said it. Well things are going to change then because in the future, and starting now, you will be doing your homework.
My step-daughter had a bit of strop and started to cry. Your not my dad, you can not make me do it, she continued. I basically had to be very strong and made her read the book. There were a number of words which she could not read and I wrote them on a list. We then spent around ten minutes where I attempted to teach her the words. She found all of this very boring.
I then told her that we would now play a game, which is called the mouthing game. She would pick a word from the list and just mouth the word without making a sound. If I could guess what she had mouthed, she would get a point and then it would be my turn.
She really enjoyed this game and on the way home from school on the next day, she asked if we could play the game again. Of course we can but we need to read the book first, I said. She replied that this was fine. This is the way in which we go about motivating our children; trying to turn a boring task into fun by way of turning it into a game.
I also compliment both children and tell them how much I love and am proud of them at regular intervals. I give them rewards when they have a good school report and encourage them to always give things ago even if they believe that they might fail in the specific task. In my opinion there is no such thing as failure if you have tried your best.
