This is the hardest time of the year for students, making it a great time for parents to get engaged in their child’s learning. Your child has been working hard for months now and summer is still not quite in sight. Your child’s willpower to establish new habits this school-year has long since been depleted. The bad habits of years past beckon, and even sunlight is hard to come by. The resolutions that seemed so exciting and attainable at the beginning of the year may now feel like distant possibilities. Your child may be in a rut.
Now is the time to get engaged and help boost your child out of his/her rut. While negative consequences can be important motivators in certain situations, we believe the best way out of ruts this time of year is through encouragement and creativity. Here are a few ideas on how to do that:
- Change the homework routine: work in a new location, change the order of fun/snack/homework, listen to some music while studying
- Have a talk about what they have accomplished so far this year
- Discuss the upcoming plans for Spring Break
- Pick some homework assignments that you will work with them
- Before school this week, take your child out for breakfast
- Talk about what they want to do this summer
Any boost of energy and perseverance you can help them generate will have the greatest impact between now and Spring Break. Helping your child out of a rut today, we’ll move them past bad habits and reinforce positive ones. Upon return from Spring Break, the excitement of the final stretch will naturally motivate. Students sense the end is near after spring break and will naturally rise to finish strong and meet the challenges of final exams. Until then, this is a great time for parents to help their children stay motivated.