When you try to get your kids to study harder and do better in school, what approach do you take into ‘motivating’ them to do well? As a child, I was the type of student who didn’t need to study much to get good grades. However, my younger brother always failed to do his homework and pass his exams, and I would always hear my mother scold him for it and my dad would always, always point at a fast food restaurant and say, “Is that where you want to work when you’re older? Because that’s where you’re headed with your grades.”
My brother never did better in school, no matter how many times they screamed at him, grounded him and tried to give him fast food restaurant nightmares. When I first saw this photo, it brought back all of those memories of my childhood:
(We do not own this photo. Unfortunately, we cannot find the original poster and therefore cannot credit them. If you know who owns this photo, please do let us know, so that we can credit them properly. Thank you!)
I never liked that my parents tried to scare my brother into better grades. Learning was supposed to fun! Also, I never saw anything wrong with working at a fast food restaurant. In fact, I thought, “If it’s a means to make money, why not?”
Now, I have my own daughter, and she doesn’t do very well in school, either. It was frustrating during the first year and I found myself screaming a lot and threatening to take her out of school… until I realised I sounded like my own parents. Things quickly changed after that and I now try to educate her in a more loving and supportive manner.
Some people disagree with the ‘loving’ manner of education because they say that children need to prepare themselves for the real world – for competition and survival. They say “the weak ones don’t survive”, but I disagree. I think that the way that you speak to your kids molds them into the kind of people that they will become when they’re older. As such, I always make it a point to focus on the positive things nowadays! 🙂
What are your thoughts on this matter? Share them with us!
