Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Motivating Underachiever
What are some reasons a child might be underachieving?
1. Sibling rivalry
2. Cultural expectations
3. Family programming
4. Fear of Success
5. Fear of social isolation
7. Undiagnosed anxiety or depression.
8. Boredom from unchallenging school work, or acting out because the work is too hard and frustrating
9. Family environment
Here are some tips to try:
1. Set small, attainable goals instead of big and overwhelming ones.
2. Don’t use bullying, nagging or shame tactics as motivators. Instead, consistently use praise and positive reinforcement as work improves and goals are met.
3. Make any “criticism” constructive and solution oriented. Don’t withdraw attention, affection, or become sour in your communication because your child isn’t meeting your expectations. For example:
If your child does poorly on a spelling test, say, “This is a little better than your last score, and I am proud you improved, but we need to do a some more work on this lesson. Let’s try some more practice after I wash the dishes.”
4. Don’t set up a competitive atmosphere between siblings. Encourage cooperation when studying and doing homework.
5. Try to incorporate your child’s interests into their learning experience.
Is your son, an avid baseball fan, having trouble with percentages, averages, and decimals? Give him practice problems involving the stats of his favorite players. Is your cookie loving daughter struggling with fractions? Get her to halve, double, and triple a recipe for your grandmother’s prize winning, taste bud tickling, double chocolate chunk cookie dough!
6. Capitalize on your child’s strengths and interests, instead of dwelling on their weaker subjects and trying to force them to like subjects they don’t.
If your child loves history, but hates English composition, praise her history grades and admire her projects in that subject. Once her motivation is high, you can use that momentum to encourage improvement in the weaker areas. Or you could try combining the two areas. Writing a composition about medieval fashions and beauty tips might inspire a greater effort to do well in content, organization and grammar in a writing assignment.
7. If you can, redirect your child’s academic focus towards areas which match her skills and interests.
Does your daughter hate geometry and algebra, but have a talent for facts and figures? Encourage her to study accounting, tax preparation, or small business management where she will have a good chance of success.
8. Don’t set arbitrary rules, a rigid structure, or tedious practices for your child to follow. They only serve to dampen enthusiasm, create stress, and cause resentment.
The above is a small extract from the article:
Make Your Kid A Genius!
How to Awaken Your Child's Innate Intelligence
May 2003 Issue #17
Irene Helen Zundel, Editor, artwhiz@greenepa.net
1. Sibling rivalry
2. Cultural expectations
3. Family programming
4. Fear of Success
5. Fear of social isolation
7. Undiagnosed anxiety or depression.
8. Boredom from unchallenging school work, or acting out because the work is too hard and frustrating
9. Family environment
Here are some tips to try:
1. Set small, attainable goals instead of big and overwhelming ones.
2. Don’t use bullying, nagging or shame tactics as motivators. Instead, consistently use praise and positive reinforcement as work improves and goals are met.
3. Make any “criticism” constructive and solution oriented. Don’t withdraw attention, affection, or become sour in your communication because your child isn’t meeting your expectations. For example:
If your child does poorly on a spelling test, say, “This is a little better than your last score, and I am proud you improved, but we need to do a some more work on this lesson. Let’s try some more practice after I wash the dishes.”
4. Don’t set up a competitive atmosphere between siblings. Encourage cooperation when studying and doing homework.
5. Try to incorporate your child’s interests into their learning experience.
Is your son, an avid baseball fan, having trouble with percentages, averages, and decimals? Give him practice problems involving the stats of his favorite players. Is your cookie loving daughter struggling with fractions? Get her to halve, double, and triple a recipe for your grandmother’s prize winning, taste bud tickling, double chocolate chunk cookie dough!
6. Capitalize on your child’s strengths and interests, instead of dwelling on their weaker subjects and trying to force them to like subjects they don’t.
If your child loves history, but hates English composition, praise her history grades and admire her projects in that subject. Once her motivation is high, you can use that momentum to encourage improvement in the weaker areas. Or you could try combining the two areas. Writing a composition about medieval fashions and beauty tips might inspire a greater effort to do well in content, organization and grammar in a writing assignment.
7. If you can, redirect your child’s academic focus towards areas which match her skills and interests.
Does your daughter hate geometry and algebra, but have a talent for facts and figures? Encourage her to study accounting, tax preparation, or small business management where she will have a good chance of success.
8. Don’t set arbitrary rules, a rigid structure, or tedious practices for your child to follow. They only serve to dampen enthusiasm, create stress, and cause resentment.
The above is a small extract from the article:
Make Your Kid A Genius!
How to Awaken Your Child's Innate Intelligence
May 2003 Issue #17
Irene Helen Zundel, Editor, artwhiz@greenepa.net
posted by Ong Tiam Chye at
2:00 PM
1 Comments:
Remove this article please. I am the author and own the copyright. It is unethical and illegal to use someone's published works without permission, or purchasing the rights.
By
Irene Helen Zundel, at 7:06 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home