Got a teen at home? Help motivate their studies with these simple suggestions
Having a teen at home isn’t always plain sailing, whether it’s a lack of communication, bad attitudes and short tempers or downright laziness! We can’t be too hard on them of course, we were all teenagers once! They might not want to talk about their romantic relationships right now, and they’re convinced that you don’t know the first thing about their favourite band, but there are some areas of their life that you can make a difference and (hopefully) have your input welcomed.
As kids grow, the amount of schoolwork they have assigned grows with them. So, not only do teens have to deal with their emotions and hormones but a huge amount of academic pressure too. It’s not easy to watch, but luckily there are ways that you can help them out.
Here we’ll look at how you can help to motivate your teen and help them with their studies.
Give them the tools they need
You can’t expect your teen to be proactive and make progress with their studies if they’re struggling to find all the equipment they need. You wouldn’t be able to bake a cake without all the right ingredients, and the same applies to studies and schoolwork. Consider the following to make their life a little easier.
- A laptop
- Good internet connection
- A printer
- A reliable citation/reference tool – check out this website for more information
- Stationery
- Paper
- Relevant study materials
Empathy
They’re struggling with peer pressure, popularity, even juggling a part-time job and their school work. Their entire future is ahead of them and as exciting as that can be, it’s also incredibly daunting. The best way to motivate and encourage your teens’ studies, is by being supportive and understanding.
Ensure they have a space to study
Room cluttered with mess and dirty clothes? They’ll never get anything done! Help them create an area that is dedicated to their studies, it could be a desk in their room, the family office or even a space on the dining room table. Ensure they have everything they need around them and that the area is kept clear and tidy – clutter is incredibly distracting, and speaking of distractions…
Eliminate distractions
Tablet, smartphone, TV, games console, social media, siblings, the dog, their friends. The list of distractions goes on. And they’re going to struggle to cope and make progress if you don’t step in to keep their studies distraction-free. Remove phones, social media, tell friends to come over later and keep siblings out of the room for a while.
