Motivating kids

Today's daily dose: Motivating kids:
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We have so many different topics to discuss when it comes to motivation, and that's because age knows no barrier when it comes to overcoming the procrastination habit. It seems we all suffer from the problem at some point during our lives. Today's message is a little different, because it comes from two angles, namely from the younger person's perspective and how we as adults need to think differently and perhaps a little more creatively when dealing with our younger members of our families, extended families, school children or anyone else you know of who occassionally utters the words "i'm bored, there's nothing to do". As my mum always used to say "there's always something to do if you care to look". So lets take a look.

Motivation Kids Style: My teenage son has several passions - his skateboarding and his street art. Thankfully he restricts his artistic talent to paper based products, his school books are literally works of art. So how do we get a street artist kid to clean his room in time for his grandmother and aunt who arrive in a few weeks time?

Well I think I've come up with rather an ingenious solution - but I know this won't work for everyone, but maybe it will give the parents who read this, some food for thought in the how to motivate the kids stakes.

My son has to clean his room, everything has to be looked at and then the 3 rules apply - Keep it, Recycle it or Dump it.

But where is the motivation in that I can hear EVERYONE cry.

Well if he cleans his room following the 3 principles, then between Christmas and New Year when I am off work, I will base colour paint his room, patch the walls, paint the ceilings so the room becomes a blank canvas...HIS blank canvas. He's already requested a chalk board wall (yes you can buy the paint to do that), I will buy him a range of colours (Sample pots and mis tints are a great way of doing this) and a range of brush sizes. He gets to pimp his room and I get what I want - a clean and tidy bedroom.

OK, there is work on my part, but that's fine, I'm rather strange as I use painting walls as therapy. It's also great for unknotting my shoulders and back.

And my daughter has caught on, because last weekend she cleaned out her wardrobe and used the 3 principles to great effect and was rewarded with a tin of paint and brush - she asked by the way - "mum can I paint my wardrobe it's boring"

"That's a great idea, I need to do a run to the recycling store anyway so let me know what you don't want to keep...."

So if you have kids and don't know what to do with them, get them involved in what you are doing - in my case, cleaning and decorating the house.

With many thoughts

Elle