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I have two children and even though I love them to bits, I have to say that at times they need motivating to do their homework or to help out around the house, for example. This article describes how I go about this child motivation. The methods have helped my own children no end and I am sure they could help other parents in a similar situation.

Now I do not work with children and therefore would certainly not class myself as any sort of expert. I am sell cheap holidays by day; I also work on various other projects including with fostering services UK and also within the external doors sector.

I remember when I met my step-daughter, she was five years of age and quite a character. I felt a bit sorry for her however as she spent a lot of time at a childminders. The childminder would take her and pick her up from school. On some days her mother would not be able to collect her until around 8pm.

After a few months of dating her mother, I offered to help out by stating that I could take her to school and pick her up. My step-daughter said that she wanted me to do this and it was all agreed.

Up to this point she had never really been made to do her homework, either by her mother who was very busy and often tired or by the childminder.

When we arrived home from school on the first day of me picking her up, I asked her if she had any homework. She passed me her reading folder. In the folder was a book which she was supposed to read. Come on then lets read this book together, I said. I don’t do homework, she replied. This was rather a shock to me as was the attitude with which she had said it. Well things are going to change then because in the future, and starting now, you will be doing your homework.

My step-daughter had a bit of strop and started to cry. Your not my dad, you can not make me do it, she continued. I basically had to be very strong and made her read the book. There happened to be around fifteen words that she could not pronounce and I proceeded to write them all down in the form of a list. We then spent around ten minutes where I attempted to teach her the words. This happened to be oh so boring as she told me in no uncertain terms.

I then told her that we would now play a game, which is called the mouthing game. She would pick a word from the list and just mouth the word without making a sound. If I could guess what she had mouthed, she would get a point and then it would be my turn.

She really enjoyed this game and on the way home from school on the next day, she asked if we could play the game again. Of course we can but we need to read the book first, I said. She replied that this was fine. This is one example of many games we play when doing homework or any other task which the children see as mundane.

I also compliment both children and tell them how much I love and am proud of them at regular intervals. I give them rewards when they have a good school report and encourage them to always give things ago even if they believe that they might fail in the specific task. In my opinion there is no such thing as failure if you have tried your best.