A Bunch of Lovely Kids

A Cure For Underachievement
By Dr James Dobson

One of the most troubling of all problems with children is underachievement in school, where a child refuses to use his or her potential. While there's no simple solution to this laid-back response, there are some approaches that may help.

It's true that some underachievement is linked to temperament, learning difficulties, or slow physical development. These are tough problems to resolve. In other cases, the difficulty could simply be a lack of incentive. We human beings are designed to respond to rewards - if there's no payoff for our efforts, we tend to become demoralised and lose interest. This is especially true of children. Underachievers often see no good reason to work and sweat over their books, and we have to give them one. A payoff doesn't have to be money or gifts. In fact, it's probably better if it isn't. A much more effective reward for motivating some children is social reinforcement - a fancy term for simple love and affirmation.

Children want to feel appreciated, and they want to hear compliments, especially if they're true. In fact, some kids will sustain any sort of grind, to hear a parent say, "I think you're the greatest." But when this sort of reinforcement is missing, an unmotivated young student may lack the drive to achieve his or her potential.