Motivating Children During Summer
Using the Holiday Break to Celebrate & Inspire Your Child's Success
Jun 6, 2007
"Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment" - Thomas Carlyle
One of the quickest ways to inspire troops on the home front is to celebrate achievement. Even though recognizing a child’s achievements through praise is one of the easiest ways to promote continued motivation parents often opt for a gift or similar extrinsic reward. With the school year in its closing days parents and kids have a wonderful opportunity to celebrate achievement and launch forward into an inspired summer.
Keep it Simple. Celebrating your child’s achievements and inspiring motivation requires meaningful recognition.
- Sharing an evening alone with you, engaged in an activity of your child’s choosing, can be as rewarding as planning a 7-day vacation without the added expense.
- Surprising your child with her favorite dinner, a trip to the movies, or a day trip to their favorite outdoor spot sets the stage for an inspired conversation highlighting your child’s accomplishments from the year.
- Plan for a short, fun-filled period of time so the celebration stays focused on what’s most important—your child.
Rewind and Review. What highlights stand out in your child’s life during the past year? Celebrate the specific moments that brought him to the end of a successful academic year.
- Begin with the most recent achievements and move backward through the year, noting the days and events that spike high up on the happiness scale.
- Focus in on times when extra effort resulted in a fulfilling sense of accomplishment.
- Your child may not have the vivid recollection or desire to recall the past nine months, so take the time to mentally note a handful of moments that stood out in your mind prior to have your celebratory conversation.
- Completing assignments and scoring high on tests might comprise a few of the top moments; however, consider personal and family accomplishments outside the academic realm as well.
- Extracurricular events and time with family often trigger tremendous growth.
Celebration as Motivation. The real power behind celebration resides in its ability to motivate future achievement. Do you remember the last time you achieved a goal and someone recognized you for your achievements? Were you inspired to continue your effort in pursuit of a new goal? Children receive critical feedback on a daily basis from parents, teachers and mentors. When the feedback comes from a meaningful source children strive to recreate the events that triggered the positive response. Children accept praise unconditionally, without suspicion of an ulterior motive. Celebrating your child’s achievements regularly paves the way for an inspired start to the coming school year.
Before launching into the summer months take a few moments to plan a simple celebration. Rewind and review the year’s accomplishments. Let the power of celebration carry you through the summer and into a motivated start this coming fall.
Read more about: Summer Planning for Middle School Kids
