Is Your Daughter Lacking Motivation?
Are you finding that your daughter seems to be more motivated to accumulate likes and retweets on social media than A’s on their report card?
Sounds like the typical teen, right?
This behavior is widespread among teens. The period of adolescence is full of change, evolution, and self-discovery. It is natural for adolescents to be a little reluctant to muster the motivation to adjust to a new and challenging learning environment.
So, how do you motivate your daughter to do what you want them to do?
How do you get your daughter to be self-motivated and to think of their future?
You need to understand why your daughter is lacking motivation and how you can play a more active role in preventing this occurrence.
Common Causes of Decreased Motivation
Change could be what is depleting your child’s motivation. The change in the social scene around middle school and especially high school is where adolescents start worrying about their social status. They wish to fit into an environment with definite cliques and hierarchies. It is common for kids who do well in school to become isolated and labeled “nerd.” During this time in their lives, young people don’t wish to be different. This tendency may be a reason why they begin to withdraw from academics.
Difficulty in the school’s curriculum is another cause of why teens may underperform in the classroom. When the workload increases, as well as the workload’s stress, your daughter, could be so overwhelmed that he or she gives up. Your child may feel that they can’t meet expectations, so they cease trying. This occurrence is very prevalent among teens who have skill deficits due to learning or language deficiencies. On the other hand, the school’s curriculum and course load could prove not difficult enough to keep your student engaged. This pattern is especially common among gifted teens who would rather spend their time doing their learning of math, science, reading, and history instead of focusing on their school work. An adolescent could also be gifted in one specific subject, and thus they choose to spend their time on that one topic rather than the other subjects in their course load.
How to Motivate Your Teen Daughter
One standard method of motivation is external motivation. This area is where a parent could use incentives to make their child do what they want. This method could be in the form of rewards, such as eating out when your student receives good grades, or perhaps increasing your adolescent’s allowance when he or she is more helpful around the house. These can be effective methods of persuading your student to increase productivity, but the drawback is that once the rewards are removed, the proactive behavior may also dissipate.
Another incentive is to penalize or punish, your teen for engaging in unwanted behaviors, such as taking away electronics with the arrival of failing grades, or grounding him or her for skipping class. This strategy could improve your daughter’s performance, but it could also cause you to ignore the issue behind the cause of the failing grades and lack of desire to attend class. Keep in mind that incentives tend to be more effective in younger adolescents versus high school students. The most powerful form of motivation is the internal motivation that occurs when the teen is motivated to accomplish tasks due to their ambition.
How do you persuade your teen daughter to share your motivations?
The two main factors that contribute to internal motivation are related to these questions:
- What are my future goals and plans?
- How do certain factors contribute to my future goals and plans?
These factors require being able to visualize goals and understand the value of what is necessary to obtain said goals. This principle can be applied to either short-term or long-term goals. Perhaps you wish for your teen to complete more chores around the house. In this case, you need to communicate to your child the ultimate reason and purpose of a clean house and what must be done to achieve this goal, instead of saying, “Because I told you so,” which doesn’t provide a rationale for the request.
A long-term goal of your teenager could be to become an architect after college. In this case, take your student to a college that has a recognized program in architecture and discuss the academic standards that need to be accomplished to gain admission to the program. Your child may begin taking school work and remedial homework assignments more seriously if they understand the correlation between good grades and achieving the desired career. Adolescents need to understand the value of their actions. They need to understand the purpose of the requests, and the consequences of not completing the task.
Take Action Now
It is reasonable to let your adolescent take more responsibility for his or her education as maturity evolves, but if an issue in academic focus lingers, you may need to start making a more active role in your child’s education. Be aware of the assignments and projects assigned to your student. If the workload is overwhelming, help your teen find a suitable place to begin the work and then break up the work into a manageable section. This method will make the task seem more achievable. The best resource at your adolescent’s school is the teacher. Ask the teacher what the issues are with your student and the potential ways to address them. Taking an active role in your child’s education will ensure that the necessary coursework and learning are accomplished.
Troubled Teen Girls Find Motivation at New Lifehouse Academy
Young girls today have so many distractions that draw them away from God’s plan for their life. Whether your daughter is going to be an administrator, a doctor, or even a minister, God has a plan for her to be the best woman possible. New Lifehouse Academy wants to be a part of helping her get there.
The staff of New Lifehouse Academy is dedicated to pouring themselves into your daughter’s life. Mentoring and a faith-based approach are key ingredients to reaching young women and helping them change their path. Our staff comes from across the country to work here because every one of them has a desire to help motivate students.
New Lifehouse Academy’s study program allows for an education plan designed specifically for your daughter’s needs. We are purposely designed for a smaller student body, 20 students or less. We focus on grades 7-12. Your daughter’s education plan will be designed to make sure that she is challenged to complete the courses needed to get back on track academically if needed.
Transferable Credits
All credits received from our school are fully transferable. With the backing of our accrediting agency and the recognition of the Oklahoma State Board of Education, transferring credits is a seamless process.
Sometimes public schools are concerned about taking credits from a Teen Challenge program. Because our accreditation is the same one as most public schools, there is never an issue with accepting credits, transcripts, or diplomas.
College Preparation
Although the vast majority of New Lifehouse students come to us behind in school and with no goals for the future, with hard work, they soon get back on track and begin to think about what lies ahead. Because of this, we have concurrent enrollment with Oral Roberts University. This allows students to enroll in college courses while still being enrolled in school with us. The courses that we offer are computer-based so that the student gets a jump start on her college career, receiving her first college credits. This allows students to have a focused education plan and encourages the student to make personal progress without getting lost in the crowd of a traditional classroom. We have also found for those students going onto college, has prepared them better for the personal responsibility of their academic progress that college demands.
To find out more about New Lifehouse or to begin enrollment, please complete our Inquiry Form.
We look forward to talking to you about how we can help you, your daughter, and your whole family. Our heart’s desire goes beyond just impacting your daughter but the restoration of the entire family.
