Five Key Secrets To Motivating Your Teenager
Teenagers. They’re notoriously known for being difficult, slovenly and spend most of their time asleep. Motivating a teenager is much like trying to motivate a sloth to wake up: it feels impossible most of the time. The thing is, you are very much underestimating your teenager if you think that you won’t be able to motivate them to do something amazing with their life.
Teenagers may be sleepier than you, but they have dreams and they build their own castles in the sky for their future, too. You can be there to talk to them through universities and courses, and be there while they find out more information on student accommodation so that they’re comfortable. It’s important that you are supportive of their dreams as much as possible, but we’ve got five secrets for motivating your teenager right now.
- Show Them How They Benefit. Teenagers are selfish – but that’s okay. They are looking out for themselves, as they should be at this age! They are supposed to put themselves first and think about their own plans that they have for “one day”. The best way to get your teenager up and motivated about their future is to show them what’s in it for them. Going to university to study may not have been in their plan, but once you show them what’s in it for them, they’ll be more motivated to learn what they can.
- Give Them A Voice. Teenagers deserve to have a say in their lives. If your teenager feels like you’re trying to shove them into your own timetable for their future, they will resist you. Ask them what they want, and make sure that you are encouraging them to be free and independent from you as a parent. They need to feel motivated and supported, but you need to motivate them toward what they want – not what you want. Give your teenager a say in their own lives, and you will see that they are far better at feeling like they can do for themselves if they know you are giving them space to do it.
- Let them Learn. Teenagers will fail from time to time – they’re kids and they’re supposed to fail. It’s the best way that they can learn, and it’s how they are going to grow and improve. Make sure that you and your teenager talk about what they want and what you could be doing to help them to get there. If your teenager has chores that they don’t do, make sure that there is a consequence so that next time, they will learn not to do things that way.
- Reminders. From knowing the deadlines for university applications to reminding your teenagers of chores, sometimes their lack of action is all about their own forgetfulness rather than a lack of feeling motivated. It’s easy to get distracted and forget what comes next, so be gentle and don’t nag. Just remind them! Use sticky notes on their bedroom door and if necessary, change the Wi-Fi password until things get done!
- Give Them Time. Not only do you want to motivate your teenager, you want their goal to be achievable. Whatever you want your teenager to do, make sure that they can do it! If it’s unachievable, it’s not going to get done at all
