How To Motivate Your Teenage Kid

Teenage is an important phase of life. Most parents have an issue with controlling their teenage kids as they tend to get easily distracted and not only their parents, but their teachers as well as senior relatives, also have a tough time motivating them to get their life back on track. Encouragement is important for motivating them. Having a friendly discussion with them to convey the proper knowledge of what exactly is happening in their lives is important. Teens don’t have the same thought process as you do. Therefore, judging and criticizing them will lead a parent nowhere. There are many things that you as a parent can do to motivate your teenage kid. The points below might be of some help.

Understanding Your Teenage Kid

Empathize with your kid, and not only that, but also with their desires, emotions, goals, needs, and wants. Without developing a relationship of trust with them, nothing will work. Empathy is basically of two types – cognitive and affective. Cognitive empathy is all about understanding what the other person is facing in their lives and would bring you closer to your teenager. Try to understand what they are going through and what is keeping them away from attaining success.

But first and foremost, you have to be an active listener. You have to patiently hear out whatever they are trying to communicate without offering any kind of advice or judgment. After they are finished, reiterate everything they said to show them that you have been patiently paying heed to their statements. Your child will open up to you if they feel they can trust you. As a parent, you have to assure them that you won’t misunderstand them. Anxiety or low self-esteem is the main reason why there can be a lack of motivation. If you feel that your teenager is highly stressed and is suffering from low self-esteem, it’s time for you to intervene.

No Pressurizing

Many parents think that outing pressure on their children can assure a positive future for them. On the contrary, that can backfire. Most teenagers have the issue of not being able to self-motivate themselves and thus, fail to advance in life. You have to be the primary motivator for your teenager. You have to push your kid forward and teach them how to motivate themselves and make decisions on their own.

These skills are crucial if they want to achieve success in life. High pressure causes excessive stress which is a primary factor for teens who tend to underperform or underachieve. They won’t even try anything since they have the fear of failure at the back of their minds. That can prove to be disastrous.

Find Out If Your Teenager is Depressed

If your child lacks motivation, they will be depressed. There are a lot of chemical and hormonal changes going on inside the body of a teenager. Therefore, you might overlook signs of an issue that can grow bigger with time. Teens under depression often experience anger, irritability, aches, and pains. They also become sensitive to criticism.

If you see feelings of sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, tearfulness, lack of motivation or willpower, changes in eating and sleeping habits, concentration issues, feelings of self-harm, withdrawal from friends, and so on in your teenage kid, have a discussion with them regarding a visit to a mental health professional.

Allow Your Teenager to Set Their Own Goals

As long as you wield control over your teens, they will never learn much about how to motivate themselves. Of course, you can guide them and tell them which decision will be right or wrong for them. But you have to allow them to set their own goals in life. Motivate them to figure out what they want to do with their lives and what’s their destination.

Putting extra pressure on your teenage kids will deteriorate things. If they don’t fare well in exams, refrain from berating them. Instead, try to find out the reason for bad performance. You will have to get to the root of the problems and gradually solve them.

Helping your teenage child to develop a sense of responsibility is the key to motivate them. Also, never put fear in their minds. That won’t allow your kid to achieve what they are capable of.