Also, at 12 going on 13 kids may struggle to tell you what's really on their mind. My daughter went through a period where her motivation sucked and it had nothing to do with her desire to play softball, it was about her unhappiness with her team. When she changed teams, the motivation came back - but she really wouldn't talk about her feelings about her first team until she had some distance from that team.
When we talked after she'd been away from her old team for a while, then she gave me and her dad some more insight into her motivation problem. We couldn't get anything out of her at the time because we needed to do less pushing to keep working, and more listening without judging. Lesson learned.
When we talked after she'd been away from her old team for a while, then she gave me and her dad some more insight into her motivation problem. We couldn't get anything out of her at the time because we needed to do less pushing to keep working, and more listening without judging. Lesson learned.