The child does not want to learn: 10 ways to increase his craving for knowledge

"I hate this school!" the son or daughter repeats every morning. Is the situation familiar? In fact, a child can hate not only school, but also kindergarten, university, music room or sports section. At the same time, it is difficult to characterize his feelings exactly as hatred. Rather, it is a banal unwillingness to learn. 

We will not consider cases when a child is not well at school, his classmates are bullying him or there is no contact with the teacher, he does not like to get up early or gets tired of a long way back and forth. These are topics for other articles that we will definitely touch on another time. And now let's consider exactly the unwillingness to learn — where does it come from and what to do about it?

An apple from an apple treeNo matter how you take responsibility for the abilities of the child, but still the folk wisdom is right: the apple does not fall far from the apple tree.

And this was confirmed by scientists in their study published in the journal AERA Open. They compared 1,594 teenagers with their siblings, trying to find areas of the genetic code responsible for the desire to study. Comparison with siblings was a prerequisite for the purity of the experiment. This made it possible to exclude the influence of the external environment, since children from the same family are brought up in relatively equal conditions. 

See also: Child aggression: psychologist's advice to parents

The result of large-scale work confirmed the responsibility of genes for the desire to study. If the child's mother has received a higher education, then her children study on average 1.7 years longer than the children of a mother without a VO. That is, their craving for knowledge is noticeably higher. 

Therefore, trying to find out why your child does not want to study, answer the question of why YOU did not want to study in childhood or youth.

Unwillingness to learn — how does it arise?To analyze this question, you need to understand — did the decrease in educational motivation happen suddenly or did the child never demonstrate a special craving for knowledge?

In the first case, it is worth looking for a specific reason — a factor that influenced the child so much that he stopped being interested in studying. In the second case, the worst choice would be the decision to let the situation take its course: "So what, if only he was healthy." Give your child a chance, do not enroll him in the ranks of laggards at the first problems. 

There is a third way to reduce learning motivation — gradual. The child seems to want to study, but falls short in many subjects. Somewhere it will shine, and somewhere it will frankly screw up. And so neither shakily nor valko he moves from class to class. 

If you set out to find a negative factor that influenced the desire to learn, watch the child, talk to the teacher and classmates. There are practically no situations in the information vacuum — someone knows something. 

Here are the top 3 most common reasons for a decrease in educational motivation:Misunderstanding of what you need to study for.

1. Unfortunately, conversations on the topic of career guidance are held only with graduates. However, any first-grader will easily tell you the profession that he dreams of mastering in the future. And let his choice change 100 times more, adults can already form a clear causal relationship in a child: "study - obtaining specific knowledge — a dream job." 
2. Learning is unfashionable. Modern children are well aware of the criteria for success: a luxurious life, cool cars, parties and a lot of money. But they do not know where a person should draw resources for such a life. Instagram images often hide a harsh reality — either illegal income, or rented attributes of luxury life, or wealthy tyrant relatives. The only situation in which a person can be successful and rich is to earn everything on their own. And here you can't do without a mind and, accordingly, a long and hard study.
3. Study as a punishment. Many parents sin like this: "Oh, don't you listen? So, quickly go to your room, make 20 examples and read 5 pages of text in the book!". How can a child truly love learning after that? After all, for him this is just one of the forms of punishment.

10 ways to motivate a child to study The simplest thing that the parents of a child who has stopped feeling interest in studying can do is talk to him and find out the reason.

A confidential conversation in most cases will help you to dot the "i". However, to find out and eliminate the negative factor is not all. What to do next?

1. Develop a love of reading. Many teachers are sure that if children read a lot and often, they will strive better to acquire knowledge. Reading develops vocabulary and the ability to process, as well as memorize large amounts of data. And this directly affects academic success.
2. Reduce control. Overprotection of parents literally suffocates in the child such traits as independence, responsibility, initiative. Why should he study and strive for something if the ubiquitous mom will solve all the problems? Never negotiate with teachers for grades, do not insist on doing homework together. Give your child more freedom. 
3. Sincere communication. Let the child not be afraid to tell you about his affairs, thoughts, plans. Don't judge him, don't make fun of him. Do not run ahead of the locomotive to solve its problems with peers. Your job in any difficult situation is to listen and offer help.
4. Choose the most interesting items. Start small: let the child actively learn, for example, mathematics and physics. When he achieves some success in these disciplines, he himself will not want to be an outsider in other areas. 
5. Practice different learning styles. For younger students, the optimal format is learning in the game. Children love educational classes, group games with an educational bias. If it is not possible to spend them at home, take the child to a circle. Teenagers can be interested in economic board games or educational videos on YouTube channels. 
6. Set a good example. Start learning something yourself: languages, traffic rules, chess theory. Let the child see your passion for this topic and understand that even in adulthood, the craving for knowledge does not go away. 
7. Let me rest. It is no wonder to "score" on studying when there is simply not enough time for it. If extracurricular education does not leave the child the opportunity to relax on the couch in front of the TV — reconsider your priorities. You also don't like the prospect of starting the "second shift" right after work. I want to relax a little, relax. Arrange such a time-out for your child before sitting down for lessons or leading to another circle. 
8. Teach them to be organized. A clear daily routine will help in this: getting up, breakfast, going to school, returning from school, lunch, mugs, free time, lessons, dinner, getting ready for bed, sleep. Write down the time and duration of each item and stick to the schedule steadily. After a couple of months, the whole family will get used to it, and you will definitely not have problems with disorganization and the traditional "did not have time".
9. Praise for any achievements. It happens that parents of children who study well gradually get used to it and stop praising them for their diligence. Over time, the child slips in his studies: "And why is it necessary if my parents are not interested in my achievements." Every case when your child has been given a high score is worthy of you praising your "little genius". 
10. Don't take long breaks from your studies. Summer is a time of rest, but often even the best students in the first months after a long vacation creak into the usual mode. To avoid this, try to study during the holidays — unobtrusively, without pressure, only when the child wants it. 

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In conclusion, I would also like to touch on the topic of modern school. Anyway, a standardized, universal approach is not acceptable to all students. You need to understand this and be aware that your child may not be suitable for the state education system. Switching to alternative teaching methods will completely solve the problem of motivation to study.