How to Motivate Your Child to Study

rents want their children to succeed in life and they know that success comes with adequate knowledge. That is why, parents admit their children in good educational institutions to prepare them for life. The duty of parents is not just to get a good school for their child's education, but to encourage them from time to time so that their interest in learning stays on. Some children are self-motivated towards learning and are self-driven to take up challenging tasks with positive attitude. Once their goal is set, they strive hard to achieve it without having to be prodded.

On the other hand, there are children who show least interest towards learning. They are not self-motivated to learn new things in life and tend to stick to easy tasks which require less effort. They need a lot of prodding to begin with something and their negative attitude leads to disinterest in learning. Parents of such children need to take that extra effort to encourage their child to study. A systematic, strategic approach is required to inculcate interest in such children. If your child is also facing this problem, it's better to know how you can motivate your child to study so that he/she can excel in every sphere of life.

Ways to Motivate Your Child to Study

Provide a Good Study Environment
A good environment is very essential for proper learning. Disruptions and noise often disturb a child's concentration and create difficulty in studying. A quiet room with minimum disturbance and adequate lighting should be provided so that your child feels like studying in such an environment. Creating a good study environment is in the hands of parents and they must make sure to provide one to their child.

Help in Setting Achievable Goals
Helping the child set achievable goals will not only provide a clear picture to the child about what must be accomplished in a set time frame, but also help in measuring achievements. The realization of meeting the set targets will instill a sense of confidence in the child and indirectly motivate to strive for new ones.

Set Reasonable Expectations
Many parents have the habit of setting unreasonable expectations from the child, which creates undue pressure on the child's mind and results in depression when he/she fails to meet them. Therefore, parents should understand their child's ability of learning and set reasonable expectations, which can be achieved with little effort. On meeting the parent's expectations, the child will feel satisfied and work harder to perform better.

Teach the Importance of Learning
Students who lack interest in learning, usually do not know the importance of learning in their lives. That is why, they often consider it secondary and do not pay much attention to it. A child with such a mentality should be taught the importance of studies and made aware of why parents think studies are important.

Use Interesting Learning Techniques
Making learning an interesting activity can be of great help. Children usually get bored with routine study procedures, which makes them lose their interest in studies. Using techniques like fun activities and games can bring back the lost interest and motivate the child to study more often.

Concentrate on High Interest Areas
Every child has specific interest areas. Identify these areas and start with these subjects so that the child sits to study. Between the sessions of such interesting topics, include small sessions of less interesting topics so that the child gains knowledge about them as well.

Encourage the Child
Encouragement can work wonders for a person lagging behind. If a child is under depression or has failed to achieve set goals, do not complain, rather, encourage to instill a never-die-attitude in the child. Once this attitude develops, the child will work harder each time he fails and will be able to succeed.

Aid in Studying
Parents must accompany their child during studies to help them out wherever they are stuck. Many a time, children do not like to study simply because they don't understand the subject. If parents help them in solving their problems and make them understand the subject, they will definitely like to learn some more of it.

Encourage Competition
Competition can encourage a child to put in that extra effort. It is easy to encourage boys by this means because they like to stay ahead of their friends or classmates. Getting a better score can motivate the child to achieve good results.

Appreciate and Reward
A pat on the back works wonders for motivating a child. Even if the achievement is small, praise and say that you are proud. These positive words are great ways of encouragement for children. Sometimes, rewarding can also be used as a motivator. However, be sure to give reasonable rewards otherwise, they can turn heavy on the pocket.

Source: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-to-motivate-your-child-to-study.html

How to Motivate Yourself to Study

Remind Yourself about the Consequences of Not Scoring Well
You need to understand that your academic history is very important in each step of your life; right from your college admission to job. It you don't score well, you may not get admission in a good college or get a job of your choice, and you may have to compromise with your career. Tell it to yourself that, It is my life and I need to work hard to achieve what I want. It is not only you who is going to suffer because of your poor performance, but also your parents. So, when you compare the consequences of not scoring well with the effort you need to put now, you will surely get motivated to open your textbooks and start studying.

Enjoy Studying
It is hard to digest this fact. Many of you think that, 'enjoying studying' is a paradoxical statement. No, it is not. Studying and learning things is never hard, if you enjoy and perceive the purpose in it. There are many subjects which you can learn for fun such as general science, physics, history etc. It's still doubtful, whether to include maths among fun and interesting subjects. So, try to comprehend the merit in your subjects and learn them.

Associate Yourself with Good and Hardworking People
It is true that friends play a significant role in shaping your career. When you associate yourself with bad and irresponsible people who care the least about their education, it is likely that they may rub off on you. The positive waves from good and hardworking friends, will motivate you to study well.

Set a Rational Deadline to Meet the Required Targets
Once you set your finishing line, it will be easy to work on it. When you set a target, your direction towards studying will be controlled and organized. Intelligent accomplishment can be acquired only when your input (studying) is linked with your target. At the same time, don't set a deadline that is much ahead of your capability. Before setting your target, consider the factors such as your ability, stamina, difficulty level of the subject you want to study and exam date. Don't get too excited, and set a target such as completing your whole syllabus in one day. If you are capable of doing it, good, however, if you are not able to, it will demotivate you, instead of the other way round.

Utilize the Early Morning Hours

Lose an hour in the morning, and you will be all day hunting for it. ~Richard Whately

It has scientifically proven that our brains work at its best during the early morning hours. The freshness that you feel in the morning time, can be found nowhere in the rest of the day. During the morning, you can study some subject whichever you feel is complicated, because the grasping power of the brain will be more during this time. The point is, once you gain confidence in a difficult subject, you can easily go on with other subjects and excel without much effort.

Note: Don't try doing this, resting on your down comforter or trying to study beside someone who is having a good sleep in the early morning, because undesirable psychological effects can overtake you.

Know that Time is a Precious Thing
It is an undeniable fact that time is a valuable thing. Study now because this is the right age and never let the clock tick away your life without any purpose, success or prosperity in it.

Organize Your Study Room
This is a psychological way of getting motivated to study and to avoid distractions while you study. Keep your study room clean and well-organized, so that you will feel like studying peacefully. Arrange your textbooks properly in your book shelves.

Don't...
Procrastinate your course of study.
Keep your cell phones and other gadgets while you are studying. They consume all your time without your knowledge.
Get intimidated if your friends are running ahead of you.
Miss the lectures of good and efficient teachers.
Let anyone say that you cannot do it.

Source: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/motivating-yourself-to-study-for-exams.html