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Kids' Play: Children as a motivation to learn

For some people, their role as parent or grandparent is a motivating factor to get involved in doing some learning.

There are two main reasons that people are motivated to learn because of their children; to be able to help them with their homework and understand what they are learning in school, and to inspire them and set a positive role model for learning.

Helping with the homework is an important motivating factor for a number of parents to engage in learning. For some parents, as children get older and homework becomes more advanced, they feel unable to help their children out as they don't themselves understand the work that has been set.

"I've got a nine-year old and a six-year old and as they're getting older their homework's getting harder and I want to make sure that I can give them the best advice, you know."

Learning for this reason is a chance for the parents to boost their own confidence and develop their own skills. Without engaging in learning, some people feel unable to offer support and help to their children:

"I want to learn so I can help my kids. I just want to help them learn. I feel thick."

A number of these parents struggled at school themselves, and don't want the same thing to happen to their children. One mother is doing a brush-up numeracy course, explaining:

"Because I struggled with maths at school, and it's a long way off with my little boy, he's 14 months old, but I wanted to have something to be able to teach him when he's coming home with homework and things like that."

Being a positive role model is also important to many parents. They feel that if they are learning and studying at home, it makes learning and doing homework a normal and natural part of everyday life for the whole family. This can spur the children on to do their homework and appreciate the value of learning.

"...I feel also, do you know when you're thinking if the kids see me learning, see me doing homework, my kids do it automatically, my kids don't hesitate, they come in, sit at the table and do their homework because nine times out of ten I'm sat doing my homework, so if they can see me doing it, then they do it..."

In this way, the parents involved in learning are setting an example to their children which means they are a support and encouragement to their kids, as well as helping to foster a positive attitude towards lifelong learning.

Overall, many parents see the benefits of learning in order to support their children's learning. However, whilst the primary motivator to engage in learning is often about helping the children, people can then become motivated by their own reasons, relating to things such as employment or personal development.

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