A question parents ask

How do I motivate my child to learn without rewards?

The short answer

Give your child real say over their work, and always explain why. Autonomy is what motivation feeds on, and rewards for doing a task tend to lower interest in the task itself.

The reasoning

Edward Deci and Richard Ryan's Self-Determination Theory says people are driven by three things: autonomy, competence and connection. Control weakens the drive. Daniel Pink's Drive made the same case for a general audience.

So in Sui Learning, autonomy is a nutrient and not a prize. Starve it and motivation starves with it. A child's say over their own work isn't a reward for good behavior. It's what keeps them going.

What does that look like day to day? Have your child set their own next steps. Let them adjust their own timeline out loud. Let them own the project. You play the kind stakeholder: "How's it going? What do you need from me?"

Give reasons, not orders. Deci and colleagues found that people take a task on as their own more readily when they're given a meaningful reason, when their feelings are acknowledged, and when they're offered a choice. "Because I said so" does none of that.

Teach less, too. A child who has to come and ask values the answer more than one who's handed it. And follow interest. It's what keeps a person practicing after everyone else has gone home.

The research behind it

People are driven by autonomy, competence, and connection, and control weakens that drive. Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, Self-Determination Theory (1985); Daniel Pink, Drive (2009), as cited in Sui Learning.
The research case against grades and gold stars. Alfie Kohn, Punished by Rewards (1993), as cited in Sui Learning.
People take on a task as their own more readily when they are given a meaningful reason, have their feelings acknowledged, and are offered a choice. Edward Deci and others, "Facilitating Internalization," Journal of Personality 62, no. 1 (1994).
In Susan Engel's classroom observations, children asked their teachers few questions, and fewer as they got older. Susan Engel, The Hungry Mind (Harvard University Press, 2015), as cited in Sui Learning.

Try this

Tomorrow, offer a choice inside a requirement. "Math today. Before lunch or after?" Then give the reason: "I want it done while your head is fresh."

Where this falls short

Researchers still argue about how much rewards hurt. The effect depends on the kind of reward and the kind of task. This page doesn't say a prize ever ruins a child. It says control wears motivation down and autonomy feeds it, and it asks you to lean on the second.

Also asked as

Do rewards and grades hurt motivation?
How do I motivate a child who doesn't want to learn?
How much say should a child have in their own education?

The ideas behind this answer

Autonomy
Autonomy is a nutrient, not a reward. Starve it and motivation starves with it.
Transparency
Influence openly or not at all. Always say why.
Supply and demand: teach less
Teach less, so your words are worth more. Scarcity creates value; effort creates memory.
Interest and aptitude
Aptitude points, interest steers. You facilitate; you don't drive.