Where motivation comes from and how to increase it, researchers at Harvard University have decided to investigate. A multidisciplinary study by the university’s National Research Council for Child Development says that heredity influences motivation for certain activities. But much more so are experiences of achievement and defeat, adult examples, and upbringing.
“This child just doesn’t want to learn!” – you hear from parents and teachers alike. If all students were highly motivated, there would be far fewer problems. “You are professionals, you encourage them,” parents reproach the teachers. The teachers answer: “If you don’t teach a child to learn at home, you will have to struggle with him at school”.
Scientists have proven: there are no children who do not want to do anything.
The influence of the family is considerable because the child is most sensitive to such changes in the preschool years. But a child of any age can be influenced – for better or for worse. To motivate children is not an easy case but it is possible. Furthermost, you should understand that every child needs to relax. You can help with this in many ways. For example, it is possible to find a paper writer at WritingAPaper, that provides writing academic papers on different themes for a good price. What is more, children who seem little motivated to learn or explore do indeed have a developed avoidance motivation. It motivates them to avoid danger, risk, and negativity like criticism or low grades. With this mindset, it is not at all easy to set the mood for a long-term goal. There is a second kind of motivation, achievement, which directs us towards a reward, a result. With this kind of mood, we can develop a sense of purpose, a desire for delayed gratification. These two types of motivation balance each other out.
The brain’s motivational systems are particularly sensitive during early childhood development. Children under the age of three begin to distinguish between threats that need to be avoided and those that are less dangerous. For example, thunder can be frightening, but in the presence of an adult with whom they feel protected and with whom a strong relationship significantly reduces stress levels, babies look up to the adult and do not cry.
If such an adult is not present, the child experiences too much fear – anything becomes a source of stress, and you could say he or she is afraid to live. And then avoidance becomes the main type of motivation. However, it is not just about orphans. If the mother has been away for a long time working or in hospital, and grandmothers, and aunts take turns replacing her – it’s the same thing. Some adults behave like children – because of addiction or just hysterical, and unpredictable. Also, some mums can have postpartum depression for a long time. If the parents are not empathic and ignore the child’s tears or tend to be overprotective there will definitely the negative results.
The lack of positive relationships with adults reduces the motivation to try new activities.
There is an inherited tendency toward reward motivation. Animal studies have proven: that due to negative experiences, the brain activates the fear-generating zone while reducing the desire-generating zone.
It is also important for the child to see how adults work. Experience has proven that a toddler who sees an adult successfully performing a task will make many more attempts to succeed than one who sees an adult not succeeding.
But there is another period of neural flexibility and change – adolescence. For example, for future schoolboys, adult support is much more important than peer support, and even criticism from friends will not reduce motivation. In adolescents, it’s the opposite. Because of the tumultuous changes in their bodies, they overreact emotionally to reviews of peers, especially from the opposite sex. Social acceptance induces an increase in the release of natural opioids and activates the area of the brain responsible for the release of dopamine. How can parents help? First, they have beforehand, even at pre-pubescent age (10-12 years) to create a positive environment – a chance to make friends in circles, studios, sections, etc., among the children of their parents’ buddies. The teenagers won’t listen to mum or dad’s advice on who to be friends with. So they should at least have a choice. Secondly, parents can provide support, and family warmth. Although it seems that teenagers don’t pay attention to this, it’s the best way to reduce the risk if peers are a bad influence. If a company encourages anti-social behavior or criticizes the desire to learn, teenagers with close family relationships are the best to counteract this.
By the way, you should understand that your child isn’t your personal property. That is why you simply haven’t a right to decide instead of him or her. Of course, you are to motivate your children to learn but the way you do it is very important. So, your best choice is to go to paper writing service reddit and find a suitable for you service. You can be sure that all those platforms are at the top of the ranking, just don’t be lost and your child will appreciate it.
