The Perfect Recipe for Raising a Self-Motivated Child
I’m no chef, but I do know the best recipes have the fewest ingredients and a lot of love. This same rule of thumb applies to the recipe for raising a self-motivated child.
There are only two ingredients that parents need to raise a self-motivated child. First, start with psychologist Bonnie Benard’s research on raising resilient children. Resilience is a learned behavior that provides the ability to overcome and persevere through obstacles, adversity, misfortune, and unwanted change.
Resilience and motivation have a powerful connection. Correspondingly, the same characteristics for raising resilient children are practically all parents need to also raise a child who has self-motivation. If a parent gets this part of the recipe right, their job as a parent is nearly complete.
The second ingredient for raising a self-motivated child is the strength based parenting approach that Mary Reckmeyer writes about for Gallup in the book Strengths Based Parenting: Developing Your Children’s Innate Talents. This parenting approach is all about focusing on the development of a child’s strengths rather than fixing their weaknesses.
Children are always more motivated when using their strengths. It’s also more motivating to teach your child how to use their strengths to manage weaknesses rather than trying to fix their weaknesses. Moreover, research shows that parents who use this parenting approach have closer and more fond relationships with their children.
So, that’s it. A simple recipe that will rock your child’s world. Unquestionably, combining resilience with strengths-based parenting is the perfect recipe for raising a self-motivated child.