motivating/changing habits

chalkboard2010
Mon, 17 Dec 2012 10:11:08 +0000

Sorry to ***** and moan… however, just need to vent anonymously here…

Seems like one of my kids spends more time watching football and texting his friends than studying… I am not there so I don’t know… I am doing my best to fermez ma bouche… however, tis hard…

You can’t make them mature any faster… However, I wish that student was motivated to work harder, practice more, study more, and apply for summer jobs and enter competitions. I wish this person were a little more Type A, hard work and plenty of it… instead of California coaster.

I guess I was hoping for significant change in behaviors… The good news is my student seems to be doing pretty well academically and adjusting pretty well socially. and that is huge for first semester freshman…When said student came home this weekend before finals, notebook was a total mess… and it looked like not much studying was getting done… hence mama started worrying… (bad habit of mine)…

Parents of college kids, if you’ve been there/done that… please offer a few encouraging words of what worked and what didn’t…

So I know that nagging does not work… I know that negativity does not work. I do know that the ball is in their court… and that if they drop it, they (not us) are responsible for paying back loans/etc… However, more importantly… I think the motivation to achieve has to come from within and from self-discipline… If one was not particularly disciplined as a child, is it impossible to make this discipline a habit as an adult… How does one achieve the maturity of thought to even want self-discipline, to realize its value…

Thanks