Part 5/6: What If Students Refuse Help? A Controversial Answer

Are you a teacher, coach or parent? Do you see kids who absolutely refuse help? Students, are you one of those kids who shies away from help?

I see this all the time. “Help” is a dirty word in our culture. We’ve trained our kiddos to think that they’ve only earned success if they do it by themselves.

Parents ask me all the time — “How can I get my kid to be willing to be coached? She just doesn’t want the help!”
Teachers ask me — “How do I get my students to be more motivated to learn?” This is another way of asking, “How do I motivate them to accept the ‘help; of my teaching?”

In the training I attended about alternatives to calling the police (click here to get the background about that training), the refusal to accept help was also a theme needed to discuss.

In fact, trainers gave us the very same advice that I give to parents and coaches!
Here’s my unpacking of that advice:

What do you do when students refuse help? Students, what do you think adults should do when students say, “No!” to help we have to give?

Can’t wait to hear from you!

P.S. One of the additional things I notice about offering help, is this — the more specific you can be about the help you’re offering, the better.

My course for educators The Art of Inspiring Students is filled with super specific tools that students find really useful. When they trust that you’re giving them a tool they actually need, resistant students are often more willing to accept help. If you decide you’d like to learn this toolkit of strategies to teach your students, don’t forget to use the code STRANGETIMES. You can also find more courses and classes HERE.