THE POWER OF WORDS
It is psychological confirmed that words have a very strong influence on the lives of individuals and especially children both negatively and positively. Words can be a big source of encouragement to a child or a source of discouragement.
There can not be any true achievement and success without some sort of motivation. There are two types of motivation:
1. Intrinsic motivation:
This is the motivation that comes from within an individual, driven by a strong desire for achievement.
2. Extrinsic motivation:
This is the type of motivation that is sponsored from external factors. It is a deep desires for achievement that comes from someone or something.
The intrinsic motivation of a child is good and is healthy for his educational performance and success. But in most cases intrinsic motivation is not enough because of the pressures and the demands that come with an outstanding academic performance. Every child also needs extrinsic motivation.
parents are the biggest influence over the lives of children in every aspect of their lives and especially in their education.
Consciously or unconsciously children are mostly driven and are easily motivated by their parents. The biggest source of extrinsic motivation to a child's growth and development is his parents.
how you may ask. ??
In the previous post I wrote about how parents can assist their children to achieve a better academic performance.
One of the biggest ways parents can assist their children perform better in school is to be a continual source of encouragement and motivation. And they can do this through words.
1. speak encouragement.
As a parent, teacher or even a gaurdian. Educational psychology proves that the mental and emotional stability of a child can affect his performance. This kind of stability is easily affected by words both negatively and even positively. The quality of words spoken to a child will result to his overall outcome. Words have the ability to shape a child or mar a child.
Children listen to their parents, they believe almost everything they say. They are constantly looking for some sort of approval, appraisal and motivation form their parents because they have a desire to please them.
This is so important and must be taken really seriously. unknown to many parents their children look up to them as a source of encouragement and motivation. So many children seek the approval of their parents. They desire to receive love from their parents and words of affirmation is a great love language that can communicate it to them.
children want to be told. "you are smart and intelligent."
" you've been really performing so we'll lately, am proud of you keep it up."
"if you do better I promise I'll get you a gift so give it your best, I love and I believe in you."
" Don't feel bad you didn't get all the answers just put in more work. I know you can do better I believe in you."
These kinds of words of encouragement
goes a long go way in motivating a child to be the best they can be.
2. Don't speak bad and hurtful words to them.
You can destroy your child by the way that you speak to them.
A lot of parents are often clueless on how to help improve the academic performance of their children and this can be frustrating to them. They dislike it when the grades of their children drop. out of this frustration many parents begin to speak harsh and insulting words to their children. this is extremely a wrong approach.
we must understand that insulting a child will not make him/her perform better, neither will it motivate them to achieve academic excellence. It will only further discourage them and weaken them emotionally.
words can cause deep hurts on the soul of a child. it can affect the way a child See's his/herself. It can also affect their behavior towards others.
like I started in the previous point. "The emotional stability of children can affect their academic performance".
Now we must understand that there is a difference between discipline and speaking hurtful words to a child.
insulting a child is not discipline. it's absolutely wrong.
If a child needs correction and a certain level of discipline because of a bad behavior towards academics then he/she deserves to be disciplined in love to change that behavior.
Nevertheless this is not a just reason to insult a child. Remember your words can shape the life of a child. So therefore no matter the child's behaviour remember that there's a better way to help that child.
If you change your approach and begin to motivate your child, her/she may see reason to put in more effort to please you. but if you keep telling them their dull, worthless or stupid, they fell like that and believe that there's no need to be better because whatever they did wouldn't please you anyway.
there's so much potential and greatness in our children, let's help them see it. encourage them with your words today, they can be better.
I hope this was really helpful to you.
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