Is your child moving out of the stage of life where they are dependent on parents for prompting and assistance for most activities of daily living into a more independent stage of their life? Or is this a goal for your family? Lack of motivation to complete tasks independently is often a barrier that can prevent the smooth transition between these stages of life.

Ask yourself… Would you go to work if you didn’t get paid? Although lots of us love our jobs, we probably wouldn’t go to work without our weekly paycheck coming in. This is the same for some children who do not have the motivation to change or complete a task. The main thing is to remember that they cannot change not caring about what you want them to care about and they can’t change the way they feel.

Some children have difficulties with foresight about the consequences of their actions and instead only think about here and now. Implementation of strategies to initiate the motivation for a child to change a behaviour may be beneficial.

Expectations

• May be that your expectations too high?
• Set goals that are realistic, measureable and achievable

Motivators

• Figure out what your child cares about and what motivates them
• Use rewards and incentives as a motivator
• Limit always using consequences to motivate your child
• Find a balance between use of rewards and consequences
• Use these with lots of empathy and understanding

Rewards

• Does not always need to be a physical thing, toy or object
• Might be choosing what’s for dinner, what movie the family will watch all together on the weekend, or what treat to eat while having movie night

Changing the behaviour

• Think about what the ‘good experience’ would look like for you and for your family
• Focus on a specific behaviour that you are wanting to change

For additional support or direction with strategies get in touch with an occupational therapist. Please feel free to give us a call at De Silva Kids Clinic on 8418 8544 and speak with an occupational therapist about your concerns.

Written by Alannah Santomartino, occupational therapist.