On this page
Your child has written olympiads for two or three years, and this year they say they don't want to. It is natural to worry that they are giving up on maths. Often they are not. Stepping away from one exam is a different decision from stepping away from a subject, and how you handle the conversation matters more than the decision itself.
Why does a child stop wanting to write olympiads?
Some cooling is ordinary. A longitudinal study by Adele Gottfried and colleagues followed children from age 9 to 17 and modelled the developmental decline in their intrinsic motivation for maths and science (Journal of Educational Psychology, 2009).
The specific reasons vary, but they tend to fall into a few groups:
The paper became the point. Puzzles that were fun turned into rank lists, coaching and certificates.
The level jumped. In India, the science and maths olympiads run as a multi-stage selection, with the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education as the nodal centre (HBCSE Olympiads). The jump from school-level papers can feel like hitting a wall.
Time got tight. Class 10 boards, JEE preparation or a new sport left less room.
A bad result stung. One poor score can make a child decide they are "not an olympiad person".
Interests moved. Coding, music, biology or writing now pull harder.
Should I let my child quit olympiads?
In most cases, yes, once you understand why. Pushing a reluctant teenager through a voluntary exam is unlikely to bring back their curiosity.
In a 1989 study of 64 mothers and 50 fathers of children in grades 3 to 6, Wendy Grolnick and Richard Ryan found that parental autonomy support was positively related to children's autonomous self-regulation, teacher-rated competence and school grades (Journal of Educational Psychology). Autonomy support means taking your child's view seriously and letting them make real choices.
Rewards are a weaker lever than they look. In a classic experiment, preschool children who already liked drawing were promised a certificate for drawing; one to two weeks later, back in their classrooms, they showed less interest in drawing than children who got no reward or an unexpected one (Lepper, Greene and Nisbett, 1973). Offering a phone or a trip for "just one more year" of olympiads may backfire in a similar way.
For the general case, see our guide on whether to let your child quit an activity, and our explainer on what Deci and Ryan found about motivation.
What should I say when my child wants to quit?
Pick a calm moment, not results night, and allow about 15 minutes. Then:
Open without a verdict. "You said you don't want to write the olympiad this year. I'm not upset. I want to understand."
Ask what changed. "Was there a point when it stopped being fun? What happened then?"
Separate the exam from the subject. "Is it the olympiad you're done with, or maths in general?"
Ask what they still like. "Which kind of problems do you still enjoy, even a little?"
Agree a next step together. "Let's skip this year's paper and try something maths-related that you choose for a month. Then we'll check in."
Then stop talking. A teenager who feels heard will often tell you more the next day.
How do I keep maths enrichment my child enjoys?
The same Gottfried study helps here. Parents' task-intrinsic practices, which encourage children's pleasure and engagement in learning, were beneficial both for motivation at age 9 and for how it declined through age 17, while practices built on external rewards and consequences were adverse (ERIC record of the 2009 study).
So keep maths that has no rank attached. Try a four-week plan:
Week 1: Let them choose. Offer a puzzle book, a coding project or a maths circle. They pick one.
Week 2: Small and regular. Twenty minutes, two or three times a week. No marks, no logs.
Week 3: Share it. Ask them to show you one problem they liked and explain why it works.
Week 4: Review together. Keep it, swap it or drop it. Any answer is fine.
Maths circles suit many former olympiad students because they keep the hard, interesting problems and drop the ranking; here is how to find a maths circle in India. If your child gets curious about a topic in their own time, the Fermi Concept Library has a lesson for every concept in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and computing, so they can follow a question as far as they like.
When is it more than lost interest?
Losing interest in one activity is normal. Talk to a school counsellor or a doctor if it comes with changes in sleep or appetite, pulling away from friends, or losing interest in most things they used to enjoy. Tele MANAS, the government's free 24x7 mental health helpline, is on 14416 or 1800-891-4416 (Tele MANAS details).
The olympiad can wait. If your child comes back to it later, it will be because they want to, and that is the version worth having.
