Motivating Your Child To Stay In School

Motivating Your Child To Stay In School

Last update: 24 October, 2017

Motivating your child to not abandon their studies can be difficult. Especially when their group of friends think that studying is a waste of time and that it makes more sense to drop out of school.

Dropping out of school has become both a social and a family problem. It is disastrous for a home and a community when teens stop their studies and become captured by addiction to drugs, delinquency and depression.

Although not all teens that drop out have such disastrous ends, in most cases this decision limits their possibilities in the long run.

Mom, if you suspect that your child is considering abandoning their studies, here is some advice on how to proceed.

Enjoying their youth and taking full advantage of their adolescent years when they have little obligations doesn’t mean they should throw away the life project.

What motivates them to drop out of school?

Mother teen talk about school

If your child is thinking about dropping out of school, they do so for a reason. In order to handle the situation properly, the first thing you should do is find out the reason. If the reason is bullying, find out which children are bothering your child and find out how it can be stopped.

Speak to your child about the problem in order to get them to open up to you. Between the two of you, you can find a way to stop bullying.

It is important to go to their school in order to talk to their teachers, principal and even the parents of the child that is bullying them.

Other than bullying, another common factor that motivates many teens to drop out of school are the ideas that their friends share.

If their group of friends shares the idea that school is a waste of time and it is better to work, gain quick money and be independent, then your child will likely be enticed to go along with the group’s thinking.

Among other reasons that motivate dropping out of school, the following are found:

  • Getting pregnant or getting a girl pregnant in the case that your child is male. The responsibility of taking care of a child or even wanting to can definitely lead them to drop out of school.
  • Drug addiction. There are legal drugs such as alcohol and cigarettes. Sometimes teens need to find alternate economical solutions to feed their vices if you don’t give them money to do so.
  • Low economical resources of the family. A teenager that has been brought up lacking certain things can be seduced to drop out of school in order to personally improve their economical situation and that of their family.

How to motivate your teenager to not drop out of school?

Motiving your child to stay in school

Whatever the motive may be that your teenager wants to drop out of school, try to find it out as soon as possible. This is the only way you can take preventative action. Dropping out of school is almost never the right solution.

Mom, among the things that you and your family can do, we cannot fail to mention the following:

Your teenager needs to have their basic needs met. It is you and your family’s responsibility to meet these needs. This goes beyond only putting food on the table for them.

As a young person in this time, they should be able to enjoy some material things that others have. At least to be on par with the average teen population that surround them.

Another thing. Do not pick their friends, but you shouldn’t look the other way either if you believe they are getting bad influences. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Try to get closer to their circle of friends, and ask about their feelings towards school.

Lastly: motivate your child to study. From a young age, you should give them an incentive that encourages them to want to learn and complete their studies.

If you don’t encourage your child in time, talk to them about the importance of studying in order to learn a trade or profession. The importance of graduating from university, obtaining a bachelor, master’s, a doctorate…

Dreams motivates us. Stimulate their dreams in order to get them to let go of the idea of dropping out of school.


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


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This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.