Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

One of the top responsibilities of a parent is motivation. Not only are parents responsible for being their child’s #1 motivator, they’re also responsible for teaching their child how to develop self-motivation. In order to do this, parents must take on the job of a motivation detective.

As a motivation detective, parents must constantly be on the lookout for two things.

Innate Motivation

First, parents must identify what things innately motivate their child. In author Mary Reckmeyer’s Strengths Based Parenting book, she recommends four methods for doing this:

• Yearning: What activities or environments is your child repeatedly drawn to or eager to try?
• Rapid learning: What new skills or activities does your child pick up quickly and easily?
• Satisfaction: When is your child most enthusiastic and fulfilled?  Which activities is he or she excited about doing again and again?
• Timelessness: When does your child become so engrossed that he or she seems to lose track of time?

Amotivation

Second, parents must constantly watch out for the most detrimental type of motivation that could potentially leave a permanent scar on a child’s mindset. This type of motivation is called amotivation. Amotivation is not only when a child lacks the motivation to do something, it’s also far worse.

Amotivation is when this lack of motivation is the result of feeling powerless due to believing their effort won’t produce any results. The child may actually enjoy an activity but will not want to do it because the child simply feels that no matter how hard they try they won’t get better.

Parent’s must nip any hint of amotivation in the bud immediately. This starts with helping the child develop their confidence. If you want to know my simple process for developing confidence, I suggest reading this article. If you want more guided help, contact me here and I would be happy to assist.