According to my opinion relationships in childhood have a huge impact on children’s academic development. First of all there’s the relationship with their parents or with the people who stand by them the most. Their words, opinions and actions can shape our children’s behavior and approach to academia as well. But also friends, teachers and other humans beings in their surrounding can shape their actions. This can be done in a positive way or in a negative way. Here one example from my experience. My positive experience: When I was a little child I had one family member who taught me English. He influenced my whole way of learning the language and therefore it became my favorite subject at school. He made it possible that I felt intrinsic motivation. My negative experience: my teacher at high school who spoke to us in a negative way by saying that this industry (textile) would be the worst career we could choose. Maybe it depends on the kind of personality if you feel intrinsically motivated by those words. I felt frustrated and very demotivated which ended up in a hate-love relationship for that industry. Let’s think about these 2 different approaches 🌻