Children require the same type of emotional support as do adults. They need confirmation, affirmation, encouragement and love. In order to encourage children and keep them motivated, you don’t have to be especially creative. You just have to be sincere. Children are very keen and are able to sense things quite poignantly. When you are genuine with your feelings and support, you will get positive results.

INSTRUCTIONS

Set reachable goals to encourage a child. When the child sees that they can actually reach a pre‐set goal, this works wonders in keeping them motivated. Make the goals set for the child age‐appropriate so that they can easily be attained. Setting the goals too high will cause the child to become frustrated, become discouraged and give up.

Encourage the child constantly. This area can never be overdone if looked at from this perspective: If the child knows that he or she will receive praise for their efforts or achievements, they are more likely to try harder.

Give the child food rewards as motivation for good behavior sparingly.Overuse of this type of affirmation can eventually cause bad eating habits in the child. For instance, food rewards are acceptable when potty‐training, but can be overused as motivation for daily activities such as for making their beds.

Reinforce their confidence level by telling them often that they can achieve their goals, whether they are large or small. This form of motivation applies well in sports‐related activities. Constant encouragement to “hit the ball, you can do it,” will eventually result in them actually hitting it!