Articles on motivation and how to motivate.

[bogwoppit]

After the last few weeks with many discussions on very young children and motivation I have been doing much reading. I will add some of the articles that I found valuable. If you find any please add them in so we can form a small database.

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Motivating Learning in Young Children

THis one was interesting as it explores motivation from a few angles, Link Removed

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

The first part of this page (the section above the table of Contents) should be required reading for parents of gymnasts in my opinion

 

[mariposa]

Another great article from Wiki.

Motivation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And part of the reason we don't use rewards/excess praise to motivate in our house on a regular basis.
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http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/pdf/Punished by Rewards.pdf
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[2GbtG]

Social Skills Autopsy

Feel free to look up "social skills autopsy". As parents it would be helpful if we could teach the social skills and emotional intelligence like a "math problem". Just a suggestion to encourage motivation for anyone interested.

 

[cheryl1960]

Thank you for the motivation tips. My 13yo usag prep gold gymmie has been having some problems this season so I have been trying to motivate her to not give up. I know for sure she would regret quitting.
Earlier in the season I made her a small bag to carry with her in her gym bag. I searched for motivational sayings and quotes(there are tons out there), and laminated them, cutting the quotes into small individual pieces. I put these in the bag-there are probably about 30 of them, so she can pull one out when she's feeling down or needs a little push to accomplish something.

 

[bogwoppit]

FOLGER'S GYMNASTICS: Is There Anything Better than Watching Kids Excel?

A great article from Folgers gymnastics Blog, very interesting reading. Poached from gymnasticscoaching.com

 

[MdGymMom01]

FOLGER'S GYMNASTICS: Is There Anything Better than Watching Kids Excel?

A great article from Folgers gymnastics Blog, very interesting reading. Poached from gymnasticscoaching.com

Great article Bog!! I totally agree with giving kids a wide variety of activities to do especially for the experience of trying new things. If they do excell at it then that is a plus IMHO. I also think that when kids are involved in more than one activity or sport, they actually learn to take the losses or dissapointments better because they tend to let go of it quicker because they are looking forward to the next activity that they may be doing that week or whenever.

 

[Mark Folger]

Motivation and Awards (2 steps forward, 1 step back)

The article on Overjustification Effect was full of great information. I agree that all parents and coaches should read this article. This part really stood out in my mind;

". . .intrinsic motivation is diminished by expected, tangible rewards in both children and adults, especially when the reward is given for simply performing a task, regardless of the results."

I won't go into detail concerning how I feel about awards in youth sports because I've posted my thoughts (and confusion) on my blog. But, I will quickly say, I believe our over-use of awards is undermining a lot of good work by athletes, coaches and parents. We all work so hard to motivate and educate our children and athletes only to lose part of the gains at the awards ceremony. We may never be able to re-educate the youth sports world on the proper use of awards, but isn't our childrens' love of sport worth an effort to try?

 

[KyraGymnast]

Mental Blocks

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This article is suuupppper

 

[MaryA]

Interesting... the whole thing about rewards reducing the intrinsic enjoyment in an activity made me think of level 4 states last year. Kathy had come in 2nd and 3rd at a couple of meets and had gotten a small to medium-sized trophy and that was a BIG deal. Then, at states, they didn't give out trophies, just medals. Kathy won 1st place AA but "only" got a gold medal, no trophy. I could tell that the lack of a trophy had made winning states significantly less exciting for her. Shortly thereafter we went to watch an NCAA regional meet and the winning gymnasts there just got a rose. Kathy couldn't believe it! I mean, this was a BIG meet, the best of the best, and all they got was a FLOWER???

Also, Kathy told me after practice last night that her coach had promised $5 to any level 5 who scored a 9 or better on beam. Maybe the coach needs to read the article!

 

[KyraGymnast]

Hmm

About trophies-

Our gym has an invitational every year,and we're known for having big trophies,, but this year they were significantly smaller then last year (my fourth place trophy from last year was the same size asthe first place this year) and a lot of my teammates were dissapointed about that.

I personally don't care howbig the trophy is as loong as it says 1st place on it [ ] but I do agree that it is more exciting to get a trophy then just a medal.

To me I'd rather have the feeling of self accomplishment of winning then a trophy any day

it is interesting though

 

[Alyssamom48]

Thank you!! This has helped me in many ways!!! Since gymnastic is very new to my family and I enjoy reading as much as possible!

 

[Coach.Simon]

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Eesh....I just read this and feel horrible now - I say good job so much....

Well now I have something to work on at least

 

[Deleted member D3987]

The article on Overjustification Effect was full of great information. I agree that all parents and coaches should read this article. This part really stood out in my mind;

". . .intrinsic motivation is diminished by expected, tangible rewards in both children and adults, especially when the reward is given for simply performing a task, regardless of the results."

I won't go into detail concerning how I feel about awards in youth sports because I've posted my thoughts (and confusion) on my blog. But, I will quickly say, I believe our over-use of awards is undermining a lot of good work by athletes, coaches and parents. We all work so hard to motivate and educate our children and athletes only to lose part of the gains at the awards ceremony. We may never be able to re-educate the youth sports world on the proper use of awards, but isn't our childrens' love of sport worth an effort to try?

if that's really you ^^^nice to have you aboard here. common mental threads make for nice cerebral clothes. welcome old friend!

 

[JBS]

Here is an outstanding article on motivation:

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