And… we’re back. In the weeks after a break, it is always challenging to get our kids back into school mode. The vacation hangover is real. The eating, the lazy days, the binge-watching… and that’s just for the parents! For kids, throw in endless video gaming and unlimited social media time, and we’ve got a recipe for a sluggish start.

So what can we do to help motivate them?

In her article, “How to remotivate kids for more distance learning,” CNN Health contributor Elissa Strauss offers advice for how to get our kids going after winter break. Here are her four tips:

1. Doing more by doing less: If a student is totally overwhelmed and stifled by a big workload, it may be helpful to talk to teachers about reducing some of it, at least to start
2. Make sure they have time to play: Kids should have time and opportunity to explore their interests and be active in activities they enjoy.
3. Help kids think big: Students typically are more motivated when they can recognize how specific learning relates to their life and the bigger world.
4. Reward the process, not the action: Reinforcing smaller behaviors like showing up to online class on time is more effective than rewarding a good grade.

In a previous Shine in Math article, we talked about covered the importance of playtime, and how reducing workload might have to be something you’d discuss with their teachers. So let’s first discuss tip #3.

“Helping kids think big.” For parents, watching our kids go through school gives us a second opportunity to experience it. And as adults, we now have the perspective to ask the question, “How is this work/material helping my kid in the bigger picture of life?”

Consider your child’s history and literature classes. Many teenagers don’t yet see the importance of learning about world events from 500 years ago or understand why analyzing Jane Austen’s writing may be enriching.

Let’s help them make the connections.

Talk to them about how we’re going through significant history right now, and that as citizens, we can learn lessons from the past and help change things in our society.

Engage your kids in discussions about whatever novels they’re reading. Help them see that literature is regarded as important because writers could make us understand things about our own lives and relationships. It would be fantastic if you could read whatever novel they’re assigned––you could do a mini-book club over dinner. But if you can’t spare the time to read the whole book, maybe just do a quick read-up of it online and ask your child questions about it. Perhaps you could talk about a book you did read that relates to it. Or you could help your child see how it relates to your own lives and experiences.

With math… this can be trickier. It’s hard to convince a kid that trigonometry is going to factor into their daily life. Instead, focus on the cognitive skills they’re gaining. Explain to them how math trains our brains to perform complex procedures, recognize patterns, and persist in finding solutions to challenging, multi-step problems. These are mental skills we do use every day, though we may not recognize it.

And with science… well, there’s science all around us at every moment!

“Why are we learning this?” is the question we assume kids are always asking in their own heads. Let’s help motivate them by showing them that there are benefits to all of this learning and school work. Let’s engage them in conversations about literature, history, science, whatever.

In our next article, “Motivation — Part 2,” we will discuss Tip #4 from the article, “Reward the process, not the action,” and further explore how we can support our kids.

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