Motivating vs Enabling: How to Motivate Students When They are Stuck. First, understand Mimicking vs. Being Forced to Think: In order to internalize new material, you have to make yourself think about what you are supposed to do. You might get it wrong, but at least you're getting your brain and those neural connections working, and that gets it into your memory, a little bit at a time. If we help youth through every process, they won't know how to do it on their own afterwards. It's really hard as a parent or teacher, especially when working with a student who struggles, to walk away and let them sort the learning out. But we must let them practice, so that they learn and remember.