The Importance of Motivation

Mayuki standing in front of her Hina dolls display, wearing the kimono tunic that came with them.First, the picture doesn’t have much to do with the content of this blog, but Mayuki looks very cute in it, so I’ll put it on this blog as well. If you look carefully at the middle shelf, between the two dolls on the left, you can see all four shells from the display; Yuriko managed to put the broken one back together, so all our earthquake damage has been repaired. The dolls have all been put away now, ready for next year.

What I actually want to write about is really normal and everyday. I want to compare Friday morning with yesterday morning. On Friday, Mayuki had to get ready to go out to day care, but she wasn’t at all keen to go. In the end, I had to put her socks on her, and actually pick her up and hand her over to Yuriko to be carried out of the flat. According to Yuriko, she cheered up on the way to day care, but getting her out required full effort from both of us.

On the other hand, yesterday they had to leave just a little bit later, to get to Mayuki’s music classes. The first thing she said when she got up was “Today is music class, right?”, so she was obviously keen to go. When I said “You have to go soon, can you get ready?” she was playing with a toy restaurant set, making up meals on the tray, but she said “Yes, I’ll just tidy this up first”. And then, she did. She put all the pieces back in the box, put the box away, and then, when I reminded her that she needed socks, got some out of the closet and put them on, before going to the hall and getting her shoes on. Initially, she didn’t want to wear her coat, but when she got outside I heard her say “It is a bit cold out here, isn’t it”, so I think she may have put her coat on before she got to the bicycle.

I suppose that it’s not at all surprising that, at three, it’s rather easier to get her out of the house for something she really wants to go to.


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2 responses to “The Importance of Motivation”

  1. Felix Pleșoianu avatar

    That’s true for anyone at any age. But we grown-ups like to pretend that we can do what we “must” anyway. Except that’s not true: when we lack a real, personal motivation, we do a terrible job at best.

    Long-time lurker, first-time commenter, by the way. Great blog. I love learning so much about Japan.

  2. David Chart avatar
    David Chart

    Thanks for the comment, and the kind words about the blog.

    It’s certainly true that we do a much better job when we really want to, but Mayuki does get to day care. Maybe we just get better at going through the motions as we get older.

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