10 Tips on Motivating Your Kids to Go Back to School

It is almost that time of year again. School is about to start. Many parents are wondering how to motivate kids into wanting to go to school. It is not always an easy feat because many children just do not want to go back to school. I can relate because it is always a struggle with my own children to try to motivate them into wanting to go back to school. Here are 10 tips on how to motivate kids for the start of school that I have learned:

Fears

I would say that the number one reason why my children do not want to go back to school is their fears about it. Those fears vary year to year, but there is always some type of fear that makes them dread going back to school. It is not unusual for the main fear to just be the fear of change and for a child to fear the unexpected. For example, sometimes my children are fearful about who their new teachers are going to be. Another example is the fear of bullies and not being able to make friends. It is important for a person who wants to motivate a child to go to school to find out if there are any fears or concerns and to talk about them so the child feels better.

Schedules

One of the first things a person should do to help motivate kids for school is finding out their school schedule. Kids love to know who their teachers will be for the upcoming year. They want to know where their classrooms will be. If the kids you are trying to motivate are older they definitely will want to know their entire school schedule for the day. I know my son cannot wait to find out who his teachers are for all of his high school classes.

School Supplies

Going shopping for school supplies is a great way to help motivate kids for school. I know that my own kids get really excited about being able to personally select their school supplies. I help motivate my children by letting them put their own personality into buying school supplies. We buy fun colored pencils, backpacks, folders, rulers, binders, and other things. It makes my children happy to bring something to school that they have personally picked out, and it helps them start to get excited about going back to school.

Touring

In order to help motivate kids for school it would be helpful to go on a tour of the school before school starts. We do this every year. Usually we try to do this with our children's school schedule in hand. We walk the whole school so that our children feel more comfortable in going back to school. This helps them with the fear of the unknown. It is one less fear that they have to worry about, and usually it starts them on the path of feeling excited about going back to school.

Parents

Talking to other parents about the school may help to motivate kids for school. One of my children was really resistant to the idea of going to their school in the fall. It was only after I found another parent whose child went to the same school that my child started feeling better about going to school. My child was happy because she knew another child that was going to her school, and it took away her fear of not knowing anyone.

Clothes

New clothes for school are a simple way on how to motivate kids into wanting to go back to school. Even when my children had to wear uniforms to school they were still excited to buy new clothes for school. One of my children just this past week put on a fashion show for me wearing the new school clothes that I had gotten her for school. She was so excited showing off her new clothes, and she was feeling motivated to go back to school in the fall.

Refrigerator

At our house we use our refrigerator to help motivate our children into going back to school and getting good grades. Our refrigerator is always covered with report cards, awards, and other proud displays of our children's school work. My husband and I always tell and show our children how proud we are of their accomplishments at school. We focus on the positive aspects of learning and succeeding at school, and our children actually get eager to go back to school so they can reach more goals for the new school year.

Friends

My children like to make friends. I am sure that most children do. When trying to motivate kids into going back to school discuss how great it will be for them to go to school, and make new friends. One of my children's concerns of going back to school was that she did not like some of the kids that were in her classroom last year, and she was afraid that she would not have any kids in her class that she could be friends with this year. I explained to her that every year is a new start in making friends in school. I told her that her new class will have new children for her to become friends with. This helped motivate her to want to go back to school.

Transportation

My children always want to know what type of transportation is being used to get to and from school. It helps motivate them into wanting to go to school. I know some children that cannot wait to ride the school bus for the first time, and this is a great motivation for them wanting to go school. Usually on the first day of school I always drive them to school. I actually walk into the school with my youngest child, and I walk them to their classroom. By telling my child that, I have motivated her to want to go back to school. My youngest loves when I go to the classroom, and that is one of the motivations I can give them into wanting to go back to school.

Activities

Discuss and do fun activities with kids to motivate them to wanting to go back to school. Doing fun projects is a great way in how to motivate kids into wanting to go back to school. One of the activities you can do with younger children is to print printable back to school coloring pages. One of my friends has an excellent article about websites that have the best back to school coloring pages. You can find it at:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1971214/free_fun_with_back_to_school_printables.html?cat=4#comments