Nowadays the topic of motivation in children and adolescents becomes extremely important. Stuck in their homes, students need support in the area of ​​motivation, because the current reality of this motivation does not serve. The child's inactivity in various areas, not only related to learning, may be a sign of serious problems, which is why, especially now, the parent is required to be sensitive and attentive to his child.

What are the symptoms of stress?

In addition to a lack of motivation, the problems that may be more common in children today are:

  • irritation,
  • outbursts of anger,
  • aggression,
  • isolating,
  • prolonged silence,
  • inactivity,
  • fears,
  • memory deterioration,
  • difficulty concentrating,
  • sleep disturbance (insomnia or excessive sleepiness).

Child in front of the screen

The daily activities of children have changed a lot. Due to distance learning, the amount of screen time children and teenagers spend in front of the screen has increased significantly. It is up to the parents to ensure that the negative effects of such a state of affairs are minimized, the child is unlikely to limit the use of electronics, because sitting in front of the screen "draws" and gives a false sense of satisfaction. The child becomes irritable, loses the willingness to engage in any activities and learning, but is unaware of his suffering.

Ways to get rid of boredom

The first thing to do is to absolutely prohibit the use of electronics during breaks between lessons and maximum screen limitations after lessons. Daily physical activity is very important, the child's body needs exercise, active experience is essential for proper functioning and intellectual development. You can activate your child by taking more attractive walks together or 10-minute physical exercises, which are invented once by a parent or a child. In addition to lessons, you can encourage your kids to spend time together, e.g. cooking. Younger children only need the presence of a parent who is involved in the conversation with them, in the case of adolescents, if the son or daughter are not willing to talk, let them play their favorite music, performing common activities without talking also brings you closer.

Let's also take care and help in organizingafter-school contact "live" with peers. In the case of younger children, sometimes let's take a friend or a friend from our child's class for a walk - or maybe their parents will pay back the same one day - not only that our child will experience movement in the company of another child, which is always more attractive to him, we will gain a moment for yourself.

In the case of older children, let's persuade them to contact others outside the network, let's help them - offer a lift - of course, you have to bear in mind safety in connection with the pandemic, but contact with peers at this age is very important and necessary for proper development and maintaining mental he alth. All this will allow children to breathe, relieve tension, clear their minds - this is essential if we want them to sit down for homework or study later.

Time learning

Let's be understanding for children, because it is a difficult period for everyone. Sometimes it will be a success for the student to motivate himself to sit down for a lesson or study for half an hour, although we know that this is not enough to get the best grade. However, if the child is in a worse mood, our pressures may cause him to rebel and not sit down for lessons at all. A technique with a timer can help us here: we set it for half an hour (or an hour in the case of an older child), and the agreement is that during this time there is only learning, for the child the awareness that this obligation is closed within a time frame, results in a better mobilization. But let's be consistent, don't make your child do one more task when time is up, because next time this technique won't work.

Stress somatization, i.e. a stressed body

One cannot ignore the fact that in children, the effect of the stresses experienced are somatic symptoms and this may be intensifying now. Physical ailments negatively affect motivation, and sometimes even completely preclude any activity. If we feel bad physically and mentally, our efficiency drops, we have worse results, it demotivates. Sometimes what the child does not say is told by the child's body. Hence, stressful abdominal or headaches, but also stressful diarrhea and nausea, lack of appetite or excessive appetite caused by stress. If your child feels unwell, they will avoid being active.

What is going on in the head has consequences for the baby's digestive system. This is because of the gut-brain axis, a kind of information exchange route between the brain and the gut (and I will mention here that they are very talkative). So it's important not to underestimate the symptomssomatic in children, as they may be a consequence of difficult emotions experienced. Importantly, the exchange of information due to the cerebral-intestinal axis takes place in both directions, so hostile, "stressed" intestinal bacteria also disturb the mental balance of the child.

Psychobiotics - probiotics for stress

What can rebuild the gut microbiota, and thus affect the signals sent to and from the brain, and improve the mental condition of a child? Psychobiotics can help. They are live bacteria that benefit mental he alth. They regulate the cerebral and intestinal axis by affecting the nervous system, as they participate in the synthesis of neurotransmitters. In addition, they reduce the concentration of cortisol in the blood, i.e. stress hormone. It is especially important which bacterial strains a given psychobiotic contains. The tested and proven effective strains areLactobacillus helveticusRosell®- 52 andBifidobacterium longumRosell ®- 175. In this way, you can strengthen both the child and yourself, because parents now also experience enormous stress, and they face additional challenges related to dealing with their poor mental condition and the shoulder of their motivation. kids.

See the crisis!

You have to be very sensitive and attentive to your baby these days. Our child may present a number of behaviors related to frustration that he or she experiences, have poor motivation for learning and other activities, but if the child's behavior changes diametrically, let this be a warning signal for the parent. In extreme cases, the situation can become very dangerous. If a child injures himself or has other self-destructive behavior, it is essential to visit a specialist - a psychiatrist or psychologist, and sometimes to both. We should also remember that if a child talks about suicide, or we suspect that he or she has such thoughts, we call an ambulance or take the child to the hospital ourselves, because at this point, securing the child is the most important thing.

Category:

Psychology