How to Help Kids Concentration improvement
It’s not just parents of kids diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder who are dissatisfied with the ability of their children to pay attention. Teachers are always being asked by anxious mothers and fathers how to get their child to focus on productive things.
Author:James PierceReviewer:Paolo ReynaJan 25, 202117.7K Shares741.1K Views
It’s not just parents of kids diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder who are dissatisfied with the ability of their children to pay attention. Teachers are always being asked by anxious mothers and fathers how to get their children to focus on productive things. How do you get a child to pay as much attention to her homework as to her favorite TV program?
Here Are Some Tips:
First, Check If She Really Has An Attention Problem
She may not enjoy schoolwork, but she may have no problem focusing on other things. Very young children - one to three years old - are naturally interested in everyday chores. Give them a rag to wipe the table, or allow them to struggle to put on their own shoes, and you will see them absorbed in the job for up to ten minutes. Don’t make the mistake of interrupting them if you want your children to grow up with their minds fixed on useful things.
Older children too may have less trouble concentrating when their whole bodies are involved in an activity, for example, in a game, or when given a chance to cook.
Seen this way, very few children have a problem in concentration - the real problem for you as a parent is to find out what your child does well, and encourage her to concentrate on it.
Keep Her Happy And In Good Health
Children are more likely to be able to focus when they are healthy and happy. When a child is ill, or injured, or she has problems in hearing and sight, her ability to concentrate is ruined. Most people don’t usually think of oversensitive hearing or sight as a disadvantage. But some children with oversensitive ears may be able to hear whispered conversations across the room and are simply overwhelmed by distractions. So if your child finds it impossible to focus in class, check if treatment for sight and hearing problems is needed - this has better results than ADD/ADHD medication for a few children.
Children are also unlikely to be able to concentrate when there is bad weather in their personal lives. Has she fought with her best friend? Does she feel a teacher is out to get her? Or are you feeling depressed and letting your feelings of gloom rub off on her? Try to be conscious of how your child is feeling, and help her to see how her emotions affect the way she works.
Keep Her Interested
Children often learn to be interested in things from their parents. So a parent interested in computers will have a child interested in computers; a parent who reads a lot will have a child who reads a lot. And so if you want her to pay attention to her studies, it will help if you show interest in them yourself.
The lack of interesting school work is a problem for many children. Either they find it too easy and they are bored, or they are overwhelmed and their teacher does not seem to notice. One solution is for you as a parent to keep on top of what your child is learning and to try to make it interesting. Relating school work to everyday life and using lots of hands-on activity is an easy way to liven up studies, and if her teacher is not able or willing to do it, do it yourself. This is a natural cure for ADD/ADHD behavior.
Keep Her Away From TV And Video Games
Does too much TV cause ADD/ADHD or do children with ADD/ADHD tend to watch too much TV? Whatever it is, cutting down on hours of TV is a good idea especially for very young children. While well-designed and age-appropriate educational content may help, too much entertainment and general content programs - which is what most of our children end up watching - is consistently linked with attention, behavior, and social skills problems.
Too many hours of video and computer games are a bad idea too. Again, while there are a few computer games that are designed to build knowledge and concentration skills, most are designed only to hook children (and adults) and keep them playing as long as possible. If your child is getting hooked on computer games, he may watch less TV than previously, but he will be spending less time with friends or outdoors, or on schoolwork.
Explain What Concentration Is - And Encourage It
Concentration can be taught. Talk to your child about why focusing on the important things at hand is a necessary skill for success. Discuss the things which may keep her from concentrating, and what she can do about these things. Keep your tone light and exploratory, and don’t become judgmental.
Many of the symptoms of ADD/ADHD can be overcome by training a child to pay attention to organizing her things, planning her work (maybe with frequent breaks), letting others finish talking before she replies, and waiting for her turn. Remember that training is not equal to telling or even telling many times. Your child will find it easier to learn when she knows you are happy rather than frustrated with her and that you see her weaknesses as a challenge rather than a life sentence.
And, so long as it does not hurt anyone else and can be useful in any way at all, don’t interrupt her when she is concentrating on something she enjoys.
Medication is the only short-cut to concentration - all this is long-term work. You cannot start practicing this today and expect your child to be able to concentrate on his examinations next week. But the advantage of this method is that it builds up your child’s self-esteem, it’s thorough, and it teaches children not to expect easy answers. They learn instead that with hard and wise work, and help from others, they can do a lot of things.
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James Pierce
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Paolo Reyna
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