4yo unable to focus for more than 10mins. HELP!
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dear fellow parent, i feel the same anxiety too. my 4yo boy is also more or less the same by the way. he can’t sit still, but when he is on youtube watching abc songs, number songs and nursery rhymes, i note that he actually learnt something from there.
he can recognise most of the alphabets, upper and lower case; recite ABC song.
count to 15, but recognised number only upto 10.
countdown from 10 - 1.
memorise some nursery rhymes.
but both his teachers and me have trouble getting him to sit down and hold a pencil. are we too anxious? is 4yo too young to be doing writing exercise? last night, we spent some time doing his worksheet from school (his teacher gave me his worksheet, supposed to be done in school for the month of August. to my horror, not a single page was done!). anyway, he was as dead as a pig doing it. but the moment i said storybook time, he quickly ran into the bedroom and got his storybooks out … ??? why?..
can any more experience mummy/daddy share your story on this? -
Hi hi,
I do think that you are too anxious. I recall feeling the same way when my elder one was five. I told a nurse that my kid was unable to sit still. She said it’s normal for a kid to be active and I should not expect a young child to sit still.
10 minutes is actually quite long if you are objective enough. To a 4-yr-old, it probably feels like an eternity to them. -
I agree with 'rains'. 10 mins is ample time to do one quick lesson with your child. If you can do 3-4 10-min sessions in the day, phonics in the first session, arithmetic in the second, handwriting in the third, etc. and keep doing this consistently every day, you can make a lot of progress by the end of the year.
Also, generally boys tend to develop small-motor skills later than girls. So maybe your sons are still not ready to learn handwriting. You can practice handwriting skills in other ways. Give them playdoh and teach them to make the letters of the alphabet. Or pour some dry rice onto a baking pan and teach them to \"write\" the letters in the pan. -
hi fish e and paulyn,
you can refer to this. http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=668&p=67257&hilit=hyperactive#p67257
may pm me if you are interested in my story... -
10 mins is quite OK for a 4yo. Some P1 kids don’t do more than that at a time. Ask yourself if the work you are asking them to do it boring and repetitice - a child will only concentrate when the task is interesting as they haven’t learned much discipline yet. Another thing to note is how much time is spent looking at screens - TV or computer or iPad etc. The more a child is accustomed to moving images, the more boring stuff on paper becomes.
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my boy is almost the same as Paulyn Y’s… he can memorise all nursery rhymes, abcs, numbers, what exactly is tt character gg to say, songs even lyk ‘Teenage Dreams’…
His monthly worksheet tt are brought back from sch are always completed… but sometyms I feel that his work are not done by him judging by the way my son do his homework at hm with me. He don’t want me to hold his hand and write tgt - it’s a good sign… but his writing will be way off the line which is normal I think???
he will take the initiative to do his homework; he will run to me and say "mama, I wane do my homework" and he will run to his bag and take out his homework for me to photocopy his homework before we sit down tgt. we are really quite pleased and glad tt he is taking this initiative. but we are just to worried abt his short-lived attention and focusing span. he is gg kindergarten nxt yr, thus the worrying of not able to catch up with other children.
Jedamum, your page mentioned some fish oil… what kind of fish oil do you give your child? Is it effective? & is there some focusing enrichment courses that we can enrol them to? I tried to search online but it seems lyk those focus lessons are always for those older children -
You should look for fish oil from smaller fish and with a large percentage of EPA and DHA. I give my dd Nordic Naturals fish oil for kids.
I am sure Jedamum will reply with her recommendations. -
I don’t know whether this is normal. Due to short attention span do they forget what they learnt? I taught my son ABCs, he will repeat after me but when I point to a letter and ask him to say out, he will say the wrong letter. When I show him pictures he is able to say what the picture is but not for letters or numbers. I’m very worried.
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mn:
I don't know whether this is normal. Due to short attention span do they forget what they learnt? I taught my son ABCs, he will repeat after me but when I point to a letter and ask him to say out, he will say the wrong letter. When I show him pictures he is able to say what the picture is but not for letters or numbers. I'm very worried.
How old is your son?
I don't think non-retention is due to a short attention span. You just have to keep reviewing the letters till he gets them. Start with 6 letters at a time. Once he has them down, introduce 1 new letter at a time. Keep reviewing the earlier letters regularly - first daily, then alternate days, then less often - all the while introducing new ones.
Use a multi-modal teaching process - see the letter, hear its sound, write it, and repeat its sound.
Short, regular lessons.
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