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Community Corner

Parenting in Progress: Can There Be Motivation in Vacation?

Here are some tips on how you can strengthen your child's love for learning, even while on vacation.

My son the other day sat idly, then it happened.  

He retreated for about 30 minutes, came back into the room with a “Pen BB gun." 

He discovered that by removing the inside of a pen, he could transform the former writing utensil, into a pull back shooter of an air soft pellet.  

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He was excited, fascinated and engaged.  

I was not as amused as he, but I loved the idea of him using his time to learn 

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The next day he was baking banana bread. Again, I was loving this. He had no “homework”, so he created his own. Motivated…completely.

Now spring break is officially here and the children's and teens' excitement for the vacation has surfaced. “No school!” They yell.  

Some will choose to sleep in, others will be outside, and others…well others might retreat and spend time watching TV or playing video games.

How does a parent motivate the unmotivated? How do we encourage our children and teens to explore, to be happy, to ignite their passions within?

Well, here are some ideas:

  1. Create a vision board, including short -term or long-term goals the child and adult may have. Glue words, phrases, favorite positive sayings, pictures of their achievements in the past as well as their dreams. Every member in the home creates one.  Post!  
  2. Create a safe risky learning environment. Build something. It may fail. But build it anyway. Create a vehicle that can hover, create something that will fly or float, try a puzzle, create your own family language or crest.  Developing a love-to-learn environment is the essence of motivating kids and adults. Learn how to learn. (This is not taught much in the educational setting; it is imperative a child and adult understands that their minds are open. They can be inspired by heroes and surround themselves with passion. This will increase motivation.
  3. Have your child teach you something.
  4. Use natural talents with an interest that motivates. An example might be a singer that gathers his/her friends together for a talent show. If you have a “talented” entrepreneur in the bunch, they can charge admission for the show and give the proceeds back to the community. Another idea may be if you have an 11-year-old soccer player who can teach the 4-year-old on the block to kick around objects, to block the ball, to shoot a goal.  
  5. Give the opportunity to overcome barriers and bounce back from failures. Most times failures create fears of restarting, yet fears can also drive us to success.
  6. Leave cookie, brownie or banana bread mix out. Let the discovery begin.

Sometimes a child needs down time but can easily succumb to the world of media and retreat.  

Watch carefully and know when idle time is too much.  

Praise your children for their talents, for being a contributor to our world, and a gift.  

Then move and shake and rattle our world. We need it!

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