How to Motivate Teens
- 1). Personalize your requests to teenagers. If an adult wants a teen to complete a task, the task needs to be beneficial to the teen. For example, the benefits of keeping a clean room to a parent are having a neat home and caring for an investment. Benefits to the teen will be the ease of finding personal items and the ability to gain privacy in the room when friends visit.
- 2). Answer those annoying "why" questions. When teens ask why something needs to be done, consider the question and give an answer beyond, "Because I said so," or "because it's your homework." Include the teen in the conversation by asking him why he thinks the task is important to his life.
- 3). Validate feelings when they are expressed. Some teens are open to talking about their feelings. Talk about these feelings and discuss why the teen is having them. When a school project is "stupid" or "hated," ask her why she thinks it's stupid or why she hates it. Asking about her issues may reveal the real problem behind the lack of motivation and may lead to finding a method of motivation chosen by the teen.