As a child it was always hard for my parents to get me motivated, to go back to school, after the long winter break . . . in fact, as an adult it is still difficult to motivate myself! If you also suffer from the “I don’t want to go back to school” dilemma, here are a few tips to get your kids into the school spirit.

My mother, to the bane of my existence, always insisted on taking a picture of me on my first day of school. There are countless photographs of myself standing in front of the neighbor’s wooden fence, looking half awake, eyes rolled, on my way to the school bus. The fashion choices I made . . . totally embarrassing in retrospect, make me grateful that my family are the only people who see these photographs. However, those pictures turned out to be useful when it came time for me to return to school from winter break.

If I was whining and moaning about having to go back to school, or just in the dumps about it, my mother would break out my first-day-of-school picture and show it to me. We would talk about how long ago that was, or how time has flown since the beginning of the year. She would remind me of funny stories had told about the year so far, or fun field trips and fun with my friends. Our discussion would force me to think about all of the enjoyable times I had had in school, making new friends and learning new things. We would even talk about what my favorite things I had learned about.

These discussions with my mother helped me to view my school experience thus far, in a positive light. She would encourage me to think about all of the new things I wanted to learn, or what I wanted to do with my friends, and I would get excited about going back. I would be able to see all of my friends on a daily basis. This discussion not only helped the positives to outweigh the negatives, but when I look back on those conversations, it was a good bonding opportunity for my mother and I. She would often tell me stories about when she was my age in school, or talk about things she wished she had done, that I have the opportunity to do.

Try this with your child. Remind him or her of all the fun stories they came home with, or ask them about something they’ve learned or a new friend they’ve made. These are experiences they would never have had if they did not go to school! By encouraging your child to see the positive side of going back to school, you not only motivate them to get out of the door that morning, but you teach them an important lesson about appreciating life and finding the positive aspects in any situation.
Do you have any stories or tricks? Please share!

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 28th, 2007 at 3:01 pm and is filed under Newsletter, tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.