When our children begin a new school stage, they also begin a new experience for them, feeling on many occasions frustrated by the difficulties they may encounter with the new syllabi . Seeing that the difficulty grows with each course, they may feel that we do not give them the support they often need, throwing in the towel when they have to carry out the tasks at home or at school that they have proposed that day to consolidate the knowledge acquired .
In this situation we can apply the so-called ladder method so that your motivation is greater when doing the exercises.
Ladder method to stimulate children when they do homework
The method is very simple and fast, we will only need two cards, a pencil, scissors and a few colors . The idea of this craft is to do it with the child, so that after it he can feel more identified and committed to this strategy.
We started by painting a large staircase on one of the cards . In the other a child who will represent our son. Later we will use the scissors to cut out the child that we have drawn and colored; remember to use bold and vivid colors. (NOTE: As a child we can also use a felt or foam template).
Once the previous steps have been done, the main idea is for the cardboard doll to position itself at the beginning of the ladder and, little by little, go over each of the sections until reaching the last step when doing homework. In each of the sections we must write different motivational phrases , from more to less, and that way you will feel that you can achieve everything you set out to do.
Examples of phrases that we can use :
- I can’t do them.
- Maybe I can do them.
- I will try to do the exercises.
- Sure I can do the exercises.
- I will do the exercises.
- I am doing them.
- I’ve already done them!
When the child is going to do his homework, we will have to stand next to him and ask him what phrase he identifies with at that moment. You may have some days when you are more motivated than others, but that is normal, as some topics are more complex or you do not always feel as lively and active. In that case, we will have to ask you how far you want to go, and tell you that we will help you get where you want and even higher if necessary.
When the child observes that his doll is slowly climbing the steps, he will feel that he is able to get to where he had proposed and will want to reach the last flight of the ladder. You will begin to feel more confident in yourself and more upbeat when you have to do your homework no matter how difficult it is.
