A lot of people have much trouble trying to motivate teenagers - ask any parent or any school teacher. Many teenagers just appear to not care - they are without enthusiasm, aimless. They do not see the reason for anything nor the point of doing anything except hanging about with their friends.
Other individuals do not seem to have any difficulty motivating teenagers. Much of the difficulty is group inspiration. Teenagers, especially boys, seem to acquire a group mentality at that age. If you find that your teenager is listless, try to steer him away from his band of friends or take the lot of them on en bloc.
One of the best ways of doing this is by encouraging him and his friends to join a youth group. Their are lots of different sorts of youth groups to suit all characters and interests. Some clubs might be specifically for girls or boys and others will be mixed.
For example, there are the Girl Guides, the Boy Scouts, the Territorial Army, the St John’s Ambulance Brigade, the youth division of the Yacht Club, the Choral Society, Amateur Dramatics and the church, sports teams, sports clubs and Youth Clubs.
The foremost thing about all of these clubs is that they motivate children and teens to do something positive with their spare time, they give kids an interest, a hobby, a reason to get up off their chairs and out of their bedrooms.
In general, teenagers have an abundance of energy but little drive, they just require someone to channel the energy and motivate them.
Joining a club might have the impact of providing your teen with more dynamic friends or perhaps your teen and his mates will all be transformed for the better. Being part of an active, enthusiastic group will often stimulate them and bring them out of their reverie.
Youth groups often utilize team building techniques. It is obvious that sports teams require cohesion, but so do choirs, dramatic societies, yachting crews, ambulance teams et cetera, et cetera. All of this will have a beneficial effect on teenage girls and boys.
If you get the opportunity, encourage your teenager to take part in group events like camping, hiking, team sports and team quizzes. If it means going away for a weekend with the group under the supervision of responsible team leaders, this is all the better. These trips will create camaraderie, responsibility and interdependence.
Similarly with team quizzes. Some questions may be in your teen’s sphere of knowledge but a lot will not be. For a team to win a quiz, the members of that team have to have varied interests and that takes various types of personality.
Taking part in quizzes will introduce your teen to different kinds of people and different fields of interest whilst still teaching the value of teamwork. Learning to understand other people’s points of view can just be a good thing. These can be invaluable lessons especially for the kid who only seems to leave his bedroom to go to school.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with team building exercise for staff. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Small Team Building Activities