1) Show Excitement!

How are kids supposed to be excited for something we don’t look forward to or don’t care about? Let your kids know you are excited to learn. Tell them some experiences you have had while you were learning. Do your best to relate to them and remember what it was like to be their age. Show interest in what they learned in the day and then share your own experiences learning for the day. Go out of your way to learn something if you have to.

2) Offer Rewards

Now this doesn’t have to be food or candy (though it can be if you’d like). Offer to spend more time with them. Go to the park, a walk, the movies, or set aside time to do whatever they want. Or after so much of something buy them that special thing they want.

3) Show Relevance

“But, what relevance does this have to me?” I’m sure we have all heard, or asked ourselves, this question. Why must we learn something we are never going to use? Math is one of the most common subjects complained about. Help your kids see math in everyday things and activities. Some examples might be baking cookies (double or half the recipe), or when traveling (estimate distance and price of filling up the care). Be creative!

4) Compliment

We all know what it is like not to feel appreciated for our work. So why inflict the same thing on our children? When a mistake is made we want to help them see what happened and how to fix it, which is good. However, we don’t want to discourage our kids. Find something in everything to compliment them on. This will help them learn in the best way. They will learn from their mistakes, but will also feel comfortable coming to you for any help they may need.

These four things and more will help children look forward to learning. But not only that, these will help them feel comfortable coming to you for help and asking questions. And it is a good thing when kids ask questions, it shows they are interested. And isn’t that what we all want?

-Laura Colledge (Bravo Employee)