Is Your Child Showing Reluctance to Learn? See 7 Ways to Change That (Part One)

Ndidi Adekunle

Whether it’s a child with mood swings or one who would do anything all the time to opt out of a learning situation, we all have come across children who at one point or the other, shown reluctance to learn. Here are a few tried and tested tips to help motivate your child. Learn them and teach your child’s caregivers to help you all manage your child better.

1. Learning Style

There are so many variations of learning styles. We’ll be sticking, however, to the most elementary of them, one that has to do with the 5 senses of hearing, sight, touch (manipulation, movement), smell (perception), and taste.

Find out what your child responds most to. Does he respond more to reading or print, being spoken to, pictures, sightseeing, movies, music and sound? Does he learn better when there’s physical activity involved in the learning experience, for instance, learning a rhyme with demonstrations or learning how a plant grows by planting one and nurturing its growth, does he have to perceive the learning environment as pleasant before he can be motivated to learn? Does he like his teacher? Does the teacher have a pleasant voice or personality?

Incidentally, some children aren’t so fussy, they make up for what’s lacking and just keep learning. Others will stall, and even clam up altogether, until a certain factor that isn’t going down well with them is taken away. This can be frustrating for parents, but if you do want to make a headway with your child’s learning, then, it’s worth the effort.

2. Entry Behaviour

Do not go straight to the chase for a reluctant learner. First draw his attention in, using something you know he loves: games, some 5-10 minutes of fun physical exercise, a nice story, whatever you perceive he’ll be interested in. You just have to show some creativity here. You can learn a thing or two from Julia Roberts in Mary Poppins or Sound Of Music (I’m sure you get the idea). Show his interests some respect, then, subtly bring his attention to the topic at hand. What makes a great teacher, majorly, is creativity and tact. Children ought to associate learning with fun. Only then, will they be more responsive to the teacher.

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3. Prior Psycho Analysis

There just may be something bothering the child. Eliminate any possibilities at home, at school, or elsewhere. Has mummy just had a new baby? Are mummy and daddy fighting? Is the teacher playing favouritism at school and ignoring the child, is he being bullied, is abuse of any sort in view? Once these are eliminated, other efforts at getting a child to learn effectively are likely to be more productive.