Drive: 9 Ways to Motivate Your Kids to Achieve

by Janine Walker Caffrey

Overview

The quality of drive provides the momentum for a person to dream and achieve, creating a unique, independent life. Without it, a person is like a rudderless boat, drifting around a flat lake. In Drive, nationally renowned educator Dr. Janine Caffrey shows how to inspire your children and develop this vital characteristic. How do I get my child excited about learning? To enroll in a good college? To move out of the house? To create his own life? Designed to assist parents, educators, and counselors to get kids of all ages off the couch and into the world, Drive outlines nine specific steps proven to beat boredom and foster self-motivation and resourcefulness. Filled with quizzes, anecdotes, and practical strategies, Drive helps parents turn “Generation Me” into “Generation Move.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738211602
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	07/22/2008
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Janine Walker Caffrey, Ed. D., is the founder and head of The Renaissance Academy, a private K-12 school. She lives in Tampa, Florida.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     ix
Your Child's Future     1
The Driving Test: How Motivated Is Your Child?     23
1-Be a Pathfinder: Gather the Info That Really Makes a Difference     35
2-Increase Risk: Take Away the Plastic Bubble     57
3-Decrease Rewards: Allow Life's Natural Consequences to Take Hold     71
4-Deschedule: Encourage Joy, Imagination, and Creativity     91
5-Reduce Comfort: Counteract the Immense Abundance and Indulgence of Our Culture     109
6-Delay Gratification: Resist the Quick Fixes of the Lottery, Game Shows, and Reality TV     127
7-Encourage Accomplishment: Create a Sense of Self through True Achievement     141
8-Control the Crowd: Use Peers for Positive Influence and Independence     159
9-Create a Sense of Purpose: Make Life Meaningful     175
Put Your Child in the Driver's Seat: Apply the Lessons of Drive     193
Index     215

Editorial Reviews

Over the past couple of decades, we've managed to raise a generation of kids who, while smart, engaging, and technically savvy, lack personal drive and ambition and crave instant gratification. We've done this, Caffrey further argues, by giving them endless rewards without asking for accomplishment in return; by teaching them that they cannot walk to school, ride their bikes, or play outside without supervision; and by overscheduling and overprogramming them, giving them cars, phones, and computers in abundance. Turning "Generation Me" (the Millennials) into "Generation Move" (kids with drive and ambition) isn't going to be easy, but here, author Caffrey, founder and head of a private K-12 school in Florida, gives it her best. She lays out the problems as she sees them with today's kids and outlines nine sensible, doable solutions for motivating and reenergizing them. Targeting parents, educators, and counselors, she is very specific in her basic rules: decrease rewards, reduce comfort, control friends, limit screen time, and teach kids to increase their exposure to risks and find a sense of purpose. With quizzes, anecdotes, and strategies, this is an excellent resource for parents and teachers. [For more about the author and her efforts, visit www.driveinstitute.com.-Ed.]
—Linda Beck

Library Journal