Mothers and the Frustration of Teenage Motivation
Guest blog by Rebecca Temsen
Raising a teenager can be quite a frustrating experience for any mother. Teens can often be extremely rebellious. It can be hard for parents to provide them with proper direction. Teens often don’t want to listen to anything their parents have to say. They tend to be more partial to the thoughts and opinions of their peers. If you’re a concerned mother who wants to motivate your child to do great things in this world, these tips may be able to guide a path for you. Strong personal development for kids is invaluable in this day and age. Parents should always work hard to encourage positive thinking for kids.
- Give Your Teenager an Incentive
Teenagers are just like other normal human beings. They work better when they have clear and defined incentives. That makes a lot of sense, too. If you want to motivate your teen to do well, you have to help him understand what he may get out of it. Teenagers don’t usually feel compelled to do things that don’t have any desirable outcomes. It doesn’t matter if you want to encourage your teen to study harder at school or if you want to encourage him to work harder at a specific hobby. You should make the potential positive outcome abundantly clear. It can’t hurt to help the cause if at all possible, either. If you want your teen to do well on an upcoming science test, tell him that you’ll let him go on a weekend trip with his closest friends. Human beings tend to thrive when they have exciting incentives dangling in front of them.
- Challenge Your Teenager
It’s no mystery that teens love incentives. It’s also no mystery, however, that they’re often up for good challenges. Failure doesn’t intimidate them as much as they do to adults. Teens often lack motivation due to boredom. If a teen doesn’t feel like doing anything, it may be simply because she doesn’t sense any type of challenge. If you want to motivate your teenager to excel in her studies, make a bet with her. Tell her that you don’t think she can do better than the rest of her friends. That statement may just encourage her to get busy reading her textbooks. Teenagers don’t like feeling “stupid.” They don’t like feeling like they’re predictable, either.
- Discuss the Future
If a teen doesn’t have any motivation, it could be because he doesn’t link his current actions to the future. If you’re a mother who wants your teen to take the direction of his life seriously, discuss the future with him. Make sure he understands that his actions at the moment directly influence what happens next in his life. That insight may be enough to get him thinking and active.
Conclusion
So there you have it. Those are 3 simple yet very effective ways you can motivate your teenage kid. Keep in mind that most of what a teenager learns will help form them as adults. So it is your responsibility to get the best out of your child!
Author’s Bio:
Rebecca Temsen is an author, entrepreneur and most of all a wife and mother of 2. What she enjoys the most is helping normal people reach their full potential. Rebecca uses her ever growing skills in writing to inspire people and not settle for a normal life. As an entrepreneur, she has no shortage of failures and that is why Rebecca is the ideal person to talk about this. http://www.selfdevelopmentsecrets.com
Dr Carol 