This article explores how parents can help their children maintain a love of learning throughout their lives. Drawing on the work of parenting expert Jenny Anderson and education researcher Rebecca Winthrop, it highlights the decline in student engagement from elementary to high school and offers practical advice on fostering curiosity and intrinsic motivation in children.
No parent wants to see their child become bored and uninterested at school. Most don't even realize when their kids are losing interest in learning, says author and parenting researcher Jenny Anderson.
Fortunately, parents can actively encourage their kids to be more curious and seek out opportunities to learn — and they can do it without resorting to nagging, according to Anderson, who co-wrote a book with education expert Rebecca Winthrop called 'Learning to Thrive: The Science and Practice of Fostering Student Success.' Anderson draws on Winthrop's survey of 65,000 third through 12th grade students that Winthrop conducted with the Brookings Institution, revealing a stark trend: 75% of 3rd graders said they 'love' school, but only 25% of 10th graders said the same. Meanwhile, 65% of parents of 10th graders said they believed their kids loved school. This decline in enthusiasm for learning is a cause for concern, as children who are curious and intrinsically motivated are more likely to grow up to be happy and successful adults. Pandemic disruptions had negative effects on students around the world, and nearly half of U.S. teachers believe their students are less engaged at school now than in 2019, according to a separate study. No matter how old your children are, you can encourage their curiosity and help them develop a lifelong love of learning, Anderson said. Here are her six recommendations:Sometimes, you need to allow kids to make their own decisions — even if that means they face consequences from their actions, Anderson said. Instead of dictating a strict schedule for how and when they do their homework, for instance, parents could try giving kids the freedom to decide their own schedule. You should still set firm boundaries — the expectation should always be that kids' homework will get done — but giving children autonomy within those boundaries can help them develop confidence and motivation to make good decisions on their own. 'There to support them as they make a bunch of extremely bad decisions to make better ones,' Anderson said. 'So hopefully, when they leave , they're capable of making these decisions better.' People who take the opposite approach, a 'fixed mindset,' tend to be less motivated to take on new challenges, so you should avoid making comments like, ''I'm not a math person. I'm not a science person,'' said Anderson. 'This stuff is contagious,' she said, adding that parents should encourage their kids to keep trying if they don't succeed at something right away. 'Math is super important in the world, and you don't understand, let's get you the help ... Everyone can be developed, brains are malleable.' Anderson asks her own children specific questions after school, to get them talking about what they liked and disliked that particular day. she said: What kind of stuff are you doing in that class? Was dissecting a frog super gross? Those questions don't make you a 'helicopter parent,' she says. They show that you're genuinely interested in your kids' day-to-day experience at school, which builds trust, encourages children to open up and helps them consider their own interests and feelings as valid, Anderson said. 'On all these learning portals, you can find out what they did — not to monitor them, not to surveil them, but to be interested in their lives,' Anderson said. In those daily conversations, don't ask about your kids' most frustrating subjects right off the bat, said Anderson. Leading with probing questions about touchy topics can make kids more anxious and less likely to open up about the rest of their day, potentially derailing further conversations. 'Talk about something good that happened in their day get that tank filled up a little bit,' Anderson said. Then, you can gently broach the more difficult subject: 'Is everything going OK in biology? Is there anything you want to talk about, anything you think you need?' like 'Did you get a grade back on that history paper?' she wrote for CNBC Make It last year. Instead, start with something like 'What did you have for lunch today?' Wallace recommended. 'I've found that a low-key opening like this actually leads to more in-depth conversations with my kids about social dynamics, friendships, health and well-being.' Anderson, a former New York Times reporter, once made a 'big mistake' in one of her articles that resulted in a printed retraction, she said. At home, she made a point to tell her kids about it. 'They were horrified,' said Anderson. 'I was like... 'People make mistakes like that all of the time.' Of course, you own it and you have to fix it and it's deeply humiliating. But, life goes on.' Only 29% of 10th graders say they learn about topics that interest them in school, according to the Brookings Institution survey. It's up to parents and teachers to connect 'what happens in the classroom to what's happening out in the world,' said Anderson
Curiosity Learning Children Education Parents Student Engagement Intrinsic Motivation Lifelong Learning
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