Unlocking the Mystery: Why Some Kids Give Up and How to Help Them Thrive.
Here are 5 reasons why and ways to help.
1. Lacking Confidence
Children start to doubt their own abilities to complete a task or be able to do well in a subject like math when the level of challenge increases and they see their classmates are able to excel on the same problem. They will feel they are not smart enough and they are more likely to avoid attempting to solve the questions or the task all together, due to lack of confidence. While parents may be the primary caretakers, teachers play a crucial role in offering assistance, not just in giving more homework to practice rather acknowledging their efforts and accomplishments and providing positive reinforcement which in return will give the children confidence to overcome the challenges.
2. Fearing Failure
Children want to avoid being made fun of at any cost. Although they may have interest on a hobby or skills they may be hesitant to participate as they may feel that they will fail in their own expectation for themselves. Bullies are always looking for some downfall whether it’s in the classroom or in the playground or even in our daily life as adults. The embarrassment that may follow after a failed attempt on anything is sometimes very daunting to many children. Because often time failure is associated with negativity. The growth mindset can be enforced when children are taught that failure is part of the growth process. This allows for everyone to not give up and keep trying different ways to succeed at difficult tasks such as participating in competitions, playing in a team, being in a music group or running for the class president.
3. Very Little Patience
Children have a small attention span, the same way they also have limited patience. They want to see everything happen right away. Many adults never grow up from this stage of childhood. When they don’t see the result right away, they want to quit. It can be a sport or a musical instrument they have just started to learn. There is no other way to work around this than teaching them that to be great at something, it takes time and effort. Every small step with time and effort leads to victory at the end. This is an essential lesson for children and teenagers to learn at a young age, which in return will help them to understand and apply the value of perseverance and patience in every aspect of their lives.
4. Lacking Interest
It is a known fact that children are more likely to excel on things that interest them the most. Any student interested in math has fun learning it, as does the teenager who likes soccer will be the high ranged player on their team. When this interest is lacking mixed with difficulties to overcome, it’s very likely that the child may be inclined to not pursue further. Adults are able to push themselves to do what does not interest them, while children are not able to force their brains to do something that does not interest them. One of the main reasons is that educational materials are designed and are supposed to be taught in an interactive and engaging way so that it can spark interest in children to want to learn more, discover and have fun doing so. Any child that is forced to do so because they need it to pass the grade or get a scholarship will always almost perform average or less than average on the given matter.
5. Overwhelmed and Exhausted
Perfect example of why children give up is the challenges faced by students Post-Covid, when they felt overwhelmed with disoriented classroom structure between online and in person, being behind two years of their studies, having to catch up a full one year in few months, having to take summer class as part of their school year, having no financial resources to afford private tutoring, graduating from high school and not being able to enter college or university on time where time and effort of all those years of studies went out the window along with their patience for many students. Many of the students gave up and didn’t continue their education in university or college because of the pressure they felt as well as the educators who left their jobs.
In summary,
when children want to give up, there are many underlying factors that are affecting them. These factors are not always a broken nerve in their brain. And if any individual may label it as that, it is important for the caretakers to consider the many factors involved. If they can’t get to the source of the problem, always seek a third party individual who can identify the root cause of why the child wants to stop trying, even if it’s a paid psychologist by the caretaker.
