How do you keep your child accountable for their goals without feeling like you’re nagging them? To encourage your child to succeed academically requires a bit of a balancing act.
We’re here to help you find the right balance and figure out how to best motivate your child as they go through their HSC journey.
So, let’s get right into it!
If Required, Give Them a Little Encouragement
Don’t Push Too Hard
If required, give them a little encouragement…
As Adain (94.75 ATAR) commented,
“I, like most people, procrastinated and would temporarily lose the drive to study, and my parent’s support helped me overcome this.”
The key however to giving your child a little encouragement is to not make it sound like you are nagging. This can be tricky.
If you see your child’s motivation levels flagging, and their TV, or Facebook time increasing, avoid at all costs the following response:
“Why aren’t you studying? You have assessments coming up. You really should hit the books!”
Remember, we don’t want your child to feel responsible to you. We don’t want to focus on the negative, or shut down dialogue they could have with you.
But, then how can you encourage your child?
Create a dialogue with them!
As we discussed in our article on how to encourage your child to do their best, you can give your child a push in the following way:
- Ask them how they are going in their preparation for their assessments
- Remind them of their goals — this way they are accountable to themselves and not you
- Ask them if they need to be doing anything differently
- Use this dialogue for any comments they make about what they are doing or could do differently to provide them with some of your own advice
- Encourage them via a reminder that their results reflect their work — it’s in their hands
- Finish by encouraging them simply to do their best
Sam (98.9 ATAR) explained that creating this dialogue was a key way his parents gave him a little nudge:
“They frequently asked me what my plan was during the day when I am meant to be studying and they helped me avoid temptations such as TV.
Don’t push too hard…
While little nudges are needed — it’s a fine balancing act!
Too many ‘discussions’ about their progress and their goals (even though it’s been carefully framed to be positive) will have diminishing returns in terms of impact and will eventually edge towards nagging — and be counterproductive!
So the key is knowing when to actually leave your child alone.
As Lianne (96.55 ATAR) explained,
“My parents helped by providing emotional support and by knowing when to leave me alone.”
There isn’t any hard or fast rule in terms of when to push, and when to leave your child alone. After all, everyone is different!
Being aware however of the need to balance these carefully and to be strategic in the specific times which you give your child a push will go a long way to helping you get the balance right!
And that’s it!
Overall, giving your child a little encouragement from time to time is important — just make sure you are strategic so it doesn’t feel like you are pressuring your child.
As Natasha (97.15 ATAR) said,
“The most valuable gift that I received from them was the lack of pressure and the motivation for me to do my personal best.”
Finding that balance between checking in on them and leaving them alone to get on with their studying will benefit both you and your child in the long run!
Discover how to make your child responsible for their own success here!
Are you looking for some extra help for your child during the HSC?
We have an incredible team of HSC tutors and mentors!
We can help your child master their HSC subjects and ace their upcoming HSC assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at our state of the art campus in Hornsby or the Hills!
We’ve supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years, and on average our students score mark improvements of over 20%!
To find out more and get started with an inspirational HSC tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!
