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How to instill in your child a desire to learn. How to instill in your child a love of learning and school? How to instill a love of learning in your child

1. School should be interesting for a child

Yes, it’s not the parents who teach the lessons, but they can also make sure that the children find it interesting. Parents are interested in school life, but often these are questions of this kind: “Did you fight with someone today?”, “Did you draw the hooks well in the copybooks?”

The emphasis should be on what new things your student has learned. Ask, and together with the child, be surprised by his little discoveries, day by day. If it’s interesting to us, then it becomes interesting to the child too.

Sometimes a child tries to tell something, but parents brush it off with “Leave me alone, I’m tired” or “I know that, I went to school myself.” This kind of behavior definitely won’t instill love for school.

2. School should be easy for a child

To do this, he must be psychologically ready to go there. Parents, thinking about preparing their baby, most often focus on the fact that he can read, write, count - this is also important, but at the same time it is important that the child is ready to analyze, sit calmly at a desk, build relationships with the teacher and peers. Accept school rules and discipline.

3. The child must want to go to school. Developing school motivation

Very often we “lure” a child with external attributes: “we’ll buy you a new briefcase, notebooks, a new pencil case for school” or “when you go, you’ll get straight A’s.”

The novelty wears off quickly, and the promise of A's may not come true. The right motivation is cognitive. The child is interested in learning new things and learning. This motivation is insatiable; you cannot say: “I’m tired of learning something new.” If a child is instilled with curiosity, he will not be bored at school.

4. A child must be successful at school

It depends on the teacher how much he can create a situation of success for children with different abilities. But parents must also make their contribution: comparing the child not with an excellent student, but with himself, but in the past.

“Your sticks used to be crooked, but now they’re straight, you’re great!” We must show the child this progress! Very few people are able to continue to operate in a place where they are constantly a failure. Only success gives strength and desire to continue activities.

5. The child should have friends at school

He needs to be met at school by peers with whom he will be interested. Yes, we don't choose the class. But among 25 people, your child has a very high probability of finding a friend.

It’s not very convenient to make friends at school: you can’t talk during lessons, and during breaks everyone runs around. And here, if a child has difficulties, then the parents should get involved. Create a field where you can communicate. Maybe there are children in the class who you think could make friends with your student? Invite your child to invite a classmate to visit. You can walk with your child and a classmate to the playground and chat there.

IMPORTANT: for those who have yet to go to school

Often parents prepare their child for school by taking them to different sections and clubs. It turns out that the child does not seem to live before school, and his whole life is like preparation for real life. It is not right.

As for socialization, kindergarten is undoubtedly a great help. If the regime can be provided by parents, knowledge by governesses and clubs, then informal communication with peers can only be provided by kindergarten.

It is important to remember that every child is born to learn. Think about how many new skills a child learns in the first two years of life: getting his own needs met from adults, walking, talking, smiling, frowning, sleeping at night and playing during the day, eating on his own, exchanging toys with peers.

By the age of 4-5 years, most children know colors and numbers, can ride a tricycle, and handle complex toys and difficult people. If two or more languages ​​are spoken in the parental home, a child under 10 years of age is capable of becoming a native speaker of all of these languages.

For a child, every day of life is filled with a huge amount of new information and new opportunities to learn. When he is not isolated or emotionally or physically abused, his every day is filled with learning. Every day he feels satisfaction from new victories.

It is enough to look at a small child, determined to succeed in the business he has started, to learn not to give up. Parents do not need to instill in their child a love of learning, because it is inherent in him by nature. The main task of parents is to preserve this love.

1. Learn by yourself

As with many things, children learn the love of learning at home from the example of their parents. If a parent enjoys learning new things, if they enjoy solving challenging problems, if they strive to hone their skills to the point of mastery, the child will follow suit. The desire to expand your own knowledge and the ability to leave your comfort zone is contagious.

Maintain your enthusiasm and love of learning. Share stories with your child about how you achieved something that was not at all easy. Show your child that this or that task requires a lot of strength and patience, but once you have completed it, you feel satisfaction from achieving the goal.

2.Share your curiosity with your child

Children are naturally very curious. Support this quality in your child with your own curiosity. Ask out loud a question about how a particular mechanism works. Take your children's questions seriously. Look for answers on the Internet or in books. Watch science and nature programs together and discuss what you learn from them. Do simple experiments at home.

On the Internet you can find a huge number of fun experiments that are easy to do at home, ranging from a mini-model of a volcano to learning chemistry through cooking. An hour or two of research time on the weekend will keep a child's love of learning alive.

3.Read and read again

Academic success in school largely depends on how well a child develops reading skills and interest in reading. Read aloud to children. Invite your child to read in turns - one page - you, and the other - he. Choose books that are “dragging”, so the child will be interested in finding out what will happen in the next chapter. Go to the library and bookstores with your child. As soon as he learns to read himself, a whole literary world will open up to him, full of knowledge and entertainment. Children who love to read will not feel uncomfortable when they are given a lengthy reading assignment at school.

4.Write and write again

It is interesting that teachers and psychologists often advise reading as much as possible, but there is not so much advice on learning to write. However, writing skill is key to success in school. Many parents are happy when their child learns to write his name, but you shouldn’t stop there for long, it’s important to continue developing your writing skill. And it starts with collaboration.

Ask your child to describe the picture and record his story. Together, find letters familiar to your child. Keep a joint diary in which you will write down all the good things that happened to you during the day. This way the child will learn to express his thoughts. As soon as he can write individual words, invite him not only to dictate to you, but also to write himself. Such a journal will not only develop useful writing skills, but will also become a real family treasure years later.


5. Be interested in what is happening at school

Children know how to read their parents' emotions. And if a parent is truly interested in the school life of his child, this interest will be transferred to him. Ask what new things your child learned at school. Take an interest in his affairs, but do not criticize him.

Review test and control papers together and analyze the results. Pay attention to how your child feels about doing homework. Ask him open-ended questions that require a detailed answer, not just yes/no. Keep up to date with your child's grades and ask teachers about their progress.

6.Create a study area

It doesn't matter whether the child does his homework at the kitchen table or at his own desk. It is important that space and time should be allocated for studying, and everything you need should be at hand. If a parent sets aside a place and set a time for homework, he shows the child that his work is taken seriously.

Reduce distractions, such as the TV on or the phone ringing. Periodically ask how your child is coping with the task. There is no need to constantly sit with him and monitor every letter; it will be enough for him to know that you will come to the rescue if necessary. Don't forget to enjoy your child's success; positive reinforcement from parents is very important for him.

Original: Marie Hartwell-Walker - 6 Ways to Keep Your Kids Excited about School

Translation: Eliseeva Margarita Igorevna

Coming home after September 1, every first grader talks with admiration about the past day and how much he liked it at school.

The child enjoys going there and does his homework with interest.

But not much time passes before the schoolchild gets tired of it and parents hear the well-known phrase “This stupid school again... I don’t want to!”

But all parents dream that their child will study well, because success in school is the key to the fact that in the future he will become a good specialist, find a well-paid job and will be successful with others. And despite this, not all mothers and fathers help their child overcome learning difficulties, thereby contradicting their dreams.

If you want your child to graduate from school with excellent marks, help him with this! But this help should not be limited to paying for tutors, buying already completed homework and searching the Internet for a ready-made report.

A lot of surveys have been conducted that have proven that the number of schoolchildren who do not like school is quite significant. Why don't children want to study? Let's look at these reasons.

  1. Need to get up early

    Psychologists say that reluctance to get up early is one of the most common forms of such strong hatred. However, the recipe here is quite simple: do not let your child sit in front of the computer and TV until the night, then the process of waking up will not be so painful! Yes, and a personal example will not hurt. If parents themselves sit on social networks until two o’clock in the morning, sleep like logs in the morning, not hearing the alarm clock ringing, and are constantly late for work, what do they want from their children?

    Don't forget - children look at their parents and copy their behavior! Therefore, if you want to get your child to follow some rules, first start following them yourself.

  2. Failure to achieve

    Unlike the previous point, in this case there cannot be any specific advice. But there are common characteristics of underachieving students.

    In most cases, the reason for a child’s academic failure, despite his fairly good intellectual level, is a lack of motivation.

    Of course, if a child is interested in learning new things, he is characterized as diligent and persistent. However, if this interest is not present, children study sluggishly, unstably, and may skip classes. In the graduating class, carefully encouraged by their parents, many of them enroll in preparatory courses, begin studying with tutors and diligently “pull up” their grades. As a result, such an unbearable situation may develop both at school and in the family that the previous 10 school years will seem like flowers!

    And again, the blame lies on the shoulders of the parents, because if the parents themselves are not interested in new knowledge and have not bothered to read a single book over the last 5 years, but only watched television series and talk shows, then how can they explain to the child that reading is very exciting and motivate him to study?

  3. Excessive requirements

    Psychologists say that parents very often set expectations too high and, instead of rejoicing at the slightest successes of the child and maintaining faith in him. And this often leads to a decrease in motivation.

    And it is completely unacceptable for parents to transfer their own failed dreams onto their child: “Since I didn’t succeed, you must definitely achieve this!” But the child did not come into this life to do what his parents failed to do. He has his own character, his own abilities and his own life.
    And it also often happens that parents, on the contrary, justify the child’s specific indifference or pass off his small successes as achievements worthy of almost a Nobel Prize.

    Many parents justify their child’s ignorance of mathematics or physics by saying that he has a “humanitarian mindset,” while the child, in addition to mathematics, also does not know English, history, geography, or other humanities. And there are plenty of similar examples!

    In a word, be fair to your children and try to adequately evaluate their successes. Remember that both the desire to lower a child “below the plinth” and the desire to raise him to the skies without any reason will equally negatively affect his character, attitude to school, and overall attitude to life.

  4. Programming a child for inevitable difficulties

    A certain turning point is observed in the 5th grade, when children move from primary to secondary school. To a large extent, the negative influence is exerted by adults (both teachers and parents), who literally program children for inevitable difficulties: many new subjects and teachers, a classroom system, a difficult program.

Meanwhile, the child needs the exact opposite - the calm support and wisdom of his parents. Praise your child more and more often. Disapproval should be gentle. Eliminate the offensive words “klutz” and “stupid” from your vocabulary; evaluate the work, not the child, and especially do not punish him physically! Compare your child's experiences to his past experiences, not to the experiences of other children. Do not demand the impossible - the child must learn everything. Do not frighten younger schoolchildren with teachers, or high school students with the prospect of a low-prestige job. It’s better to tell your child interesting stories from your school life and teach him to approach everything with humor and optimism. And if you notice that his attitude towards school has suddenly changed for the worse and you cannot cope with it on your own, contact a school psychologist.

The moment when a child gives his parents an ultimatum: “Go to your school yourself” or “I don’t want to study” occurs in almost all families. And most often, parents do not know how to properly respond to such statements and motivate their child to acquire the necessary knowledge. In an attempt to somehow influence their disobedient child, mothers and fathers sometimes try to use intimidation or force. But such methods are ineffective and can completely discourage your child from learning. So how can you awaken a child’s thirst for knowledge?

Encourage children's questions

Cultivating curiosity is a long and methodical process. Every time your child comes to you with another question, try to give a comprehensive answer to it. If a family constantly “shows off” their child and tells him “not now,” “later,” then the child loses all desire to ask and learn something new.

Provide assistance

If your kid loves biology, buy him a fascinating, colorful book about plants and animals. If your child loves to dance, invite him to enroll in a choreography club. Accompany him wherever he suggests going - to the zoo, museum or concert. And most importantly, be interested in his impressions and emotions about what he saw.

Tell success stories

A good technique is to discuss the biographies of great people whose names have gone down in history. At the same time, it is necessary to find out from the child whose story interested him most and focus on the fact that without curiosity, perseverance and love for his work, this person would not have reached such heights.

Shape your environment

Keep track of which peers your child interacts closely with, because they have a direct impact on his thinking and attitude towards learning. Find out what the overall performance of the class in which your child is studying is: if bad grades are considered the norm there, then the child will have no incentive to try. In this case, think about changing classes or schools. You can more gently adjust your baby’s environment and place him in an environment of inquisitive and hardworking children by finding a sports section, children’s club or hobby club for him.

Observe the situation

An unfavorable environment at school or at home often causes poor performance. Constant quarrels at home, problems in the family, bullying by classmates, incompetence of school teachers and a host of other factors will not allow your child to fully concentrate on the educational process. Try to protect him from such experiences: talk about this topic, ask how your child feels about teachers, classmates, and high school students. Attend school meetings and always stay up to date!

Take bad grades in stride

There is a reason for everything - and a bad grade too. Even excellent students cannot always receive only high scores. Try to find out what prevented the child from completing the task properly and help solve the problem. Never compare your child’s performance with the performance of his brother or sister, friends or classmates. Such comparisons cause a hidden protest, and children often begin to behave badly to spite their parents.

Control loads

If your beloved child, in addition to school, attends two more sections and three clubs, then he is unlikely to succeed everywhere. Make sure he has time to do homework and get proper rest.

Forget about threats and blackmail

Any aggressive pressure from the parent will make the child dislike the learning process and gradually withdraw into himself. Then you definitely won’t be able to help him in any way.

Interest in the cognitive process is an important quality for a modern person, which helps to constantly develop and successfully compete in the labor market. Help your child become successful, happy and reach new and new heights!

Tells psychologist Lyudmila Petranovskaya:

Curiosity is a trait that is inherent in any healthy person simply from birth, by nature. It is especially pronounced in children aged 7 to 12 years. At this time, the child is not only interested in what surrounds him, but also actively projects everything onto himself, trying to figure out how our world works.

Therefore, parents of primary schoolchildren have the following main tasks:

No. 1. Create a positive, calm, relaxed atmosphere at home that is conducive to learning new things. In a stressful situation, in a situation of panic, fear, the process of learning something new cannot take place; this natural function is blocked as the body goes into protection and survival mode. Accordingly, for any fruitful study it is important that the child’s body is relaxed.

No. 2. Provide the child with material for learning. Imagine for yourself: if you have, relatively speaking, one book at your disposal, you will “get to know” it. The child should have a lot of materials - toys, cards, books, etc., with which he will satiate his interest.

No. 3. Don't force yourself to study. Imposing a love of learning, forcing someone to learn something under pressure is wrong, because this will be knowledge for show, which will not give the child any development. It is important to preserve curiosity in a child; this is one of the most important functions of a parent - it is killed by imposed developmental activities, and also partly by school, partly by gadgets.

No. 4. Lead by example. Parents should set an example for their child to follow. If mom and dad are not interested in anything, then the thirst for knowledge will fade away in the child over time. In addition, it is always easier to take on any projects together. Did your child read that astronauts always need to keep themselves in shape? Organize family sports activities - it will be useful for both him and you. Or, for example, by helping to create a child’s diet (this is also important for astronauts), change your habits too.

By the way

About gadgets. They should not be considered an absolute evil. Parents often complain that the child is not interested in anything other than playing games on a smartphone, but this is a very convenient position - the electronic device is simply accused of all sins. What did the parents themselves do to attract children's attention? Did they offer the child an interesting activity to do together, did they engage them in conversation? Achieving results here is a lot of work and a huge responsibility, especially if a child really wants to become an astronaut.

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