Why Your Child Is Fine at School but Melts Down at Home
Your child’s teacher says they’re great all day. Then they come home and completely fall apart. The attitude. The arguing. The refusal to do homework. The meltdown over something...
How to Motivate an Unmotivated Child: 3 Strategies That Work
By Sue Donnellan | Parenting Consultant, Award-Winning Author, Mom of 4
Isn’t it fascinating how kids can spend three hours gaming, scrolling, or reorganizing their entire social life, but the second you ask, “Can you vacuum the living room?” they look like you just asked for a kidney donation?
That’s usually when parents start thinking:
My child is lazy, unmotivated, and allergic to effort.
Parents ask me all the time:
“How can I get my child to care?”
The truth is, you can’t manufacture motivation or inject ambition into someone else.
But you can change the structure around your child so that responsibility begins to matter to them.
Is Your Child Really Unmotivated?
Most kids aren’t lazy. They simply haven’t experienced the connection between doing something difficult now and getting something they value later.
That’s exactly what we’re digging into in this Ask Mom Parenting Podcast episode: How to Motivate an Unmotivated Child: 3 Powerful Parenting Strategies That Work.
We walk through three practical steps that begin moving your child’s motivation out of your hands and into theirs.
You’ll learn:
- A gut-check tool to determine whether your child is actually unmotivated or whether you’ve been doing too much for them
- Scripted language swaps you can use right away so you’re not stuck searching for the right words mid-argument
- How to turn nagging questions into ownership-building questions so the accountability comes from your child, not you
If you’re tired of feeling like the only one who cares about getting anything done in your house, this episode is for you.
Or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
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Meet the Author
Sue Donnellan is a parenting consultant, mom of four, including triplets, and the founder of Ask Mom Parenting. For more than 25 years, she has helped parents understand what’s behind their child’s behavior, stop the yelling, and raise capable kids who know how to handle real life.
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