How to self-teach your child to focus and pay attention?

[ctct61t]

tamarind:

These toys are better than Lego, which can easily cost over SGD100 a box in Singapore. I bought a box of Knex and it cost me less than SGD80 including shipping, so I think that it is still worth it

I would suggest buying one box and see if the child likes it first. Note that your kids may need you to help them, it is quite complicated. My boy spends all day at home, and my mother and maid cannot help him at all, so he has to figure it out all by himself

Hi tamarind, Thank you so much. Ok, i will try it. I found it is not easy to find a suitable toy for my P3 DD.

[smurf]

Thanks Tamarind!


I emailed to them, they said they will try not to use big box if for 2 or 3 toys. But I think it's up to the warehouse. :roll:

[cheese]

[

My child needs to be pushed. Can share with me how to get a sec 2 child be self-motivated and focus on school work?


quote=\"tamarind\"]

Michecplow:

Is there anyway to deal with laziness and lack of motivation & confident ?

since P1 , my son does not have stress with school. Teacher feedback that he not paying attention but still manage to cath up with the lesson & he will b in P4 GEP next year... ( worry for him )

he has short focus span, but when we sit with him for assignment and reading , it does help to improve his focus ..

If he is still able to catch up, then you don't have to worry.

It is actually possible to do well even with a short attention span. My attention span is 15 minutes or less, even as an adult In class, if I often miss what the teacher was saying, but I could read from the textbook and learned on my own. I am not gifted, but I scored mostly As all the way to A levels.

Gifted kids should have the ability to learn on their own. There is no need to worry about whether they pay attention to the teacher or not.

As for laziness and lack of motivation, this is because kids have everything that they want, and they are not hungry. Kids believe that parents are always there to support them for their entire life.

Parents should try to create an environment, in which they can experience what will happen when they grow up, and if they cannot get a job. No toys, no computers, no TV, no holidays and just rice and vegetables for every meal.

We all know that kids from China are mostly very motivated and driven. When I was teaching in a university in China, I visited the hostels, and their living condition is really horrible, I almost vomited when I walked pass their hostels. So when they arrive in Singapore, they are extremely motivated to work hard because they want to get out of their situations back home.

For kids who are not motivated no matter how hard you try to talk to them, then you will have to first take away all the luxuries from their lives.

I am now teaching large numbers of young adults age 17-19 years old. I know many students who are very intelligent, but because they are lazy and not motivated, they spent all day playing computer games and they could never hope to get into university. At this age, it is too late for parents to do anything.

So if you really want to do something, better do it when the child is young.

Just to add that for my kids, they get toys only once a year during their birthdays. If they want anything, I will buy it for them only when they have put in hard work. For example, I give them a small reward when they have completed reading a long novel of my choice.

Another important point to note, is to remove all the distractions. Nowadays kids have computers, ipads, PSPs, etc, all these are distractions. Even if you limit the time of usage, after the kids stop playing, their minds will still be thinking of the games, and they will not be motivated to study. I have seen so many students wasted their youths and future because they are addicted to computer games, it is really sad.[/quote]

[baglady]

Hi I was reading some of the posts in this thread and was curious to know if your kids had short attention span since young?


My boy is 2 and has v short attention span. He gets bored v fast and we have to constantly think of new things to occupy him. My parents are looking after him and thankfully my mum is super on the ball. She used to be a teacher so she’s siao on about education and doing fun stuff to teach him. He learns fast but our challenge is how to keep him interested. We’re considering childcare next year as it’s quite tiring for my parents, but I’m worried he will disrupt the class!

I read that it’s important to motivate the child, encourage him, and also teach him using things that interest him. He has topics that he’s interested in, but he gets a bit restless after doing something for longer than 5 min! Any advice?

[24hr-mum]

my boy is already 5, still has short attentn span since birth (tho slightlly better now) but it seems its a trait that wont be outgrown…just got to channel their attention to something of their interest…

[Michecplow]

tamarind:

Michecplow:

Is there anyway to deal with laziness and lack of motivation & confident ?


since P1 , my son does not have stress with school. Teacher feedback that he not paying attention but still manage to cath up with the lesson & he will b in P4 GEP next year... ( worry for him )

he has short focus span, but when we sit with him for assignment and reading , it does help to improve his focus ..

If he is still able to catch up, then you don't have to worry.

It is actually possible to do well even with a short attention span. My attention span is 15 minutes or less, even as an adult In class, if I often miss what the teacher was saying, but I could read from the textbook and learned on my own. I am not gifted, but I scored mostly As all the way to A levels.

Gifted kids should have the ability to learn on their own. There is no need to worry about whether they pay attention to the teacher or not.

As for laziness and lack of motivation, this is because kids have everything that they want, and they are not hungry. Kids believe that parents are always there to support them for their entire life.

Parents should try to create an environment, in which they can experience what will happen when they grow up, and if they cannot get a job. No toys, no computers, no TV, no holidays and just rice and vegetables for every meal.

We all know that kids from China are mostly very motivated and driven. When I was teaching in a university in China, I visited the hostels, and their living condition is really horrible, I almost vomited when I walked pass their hostels. So when they arrive in Singapore, they are extremely motivated to work hard because they want to get out of their situations back home.

For kids who are not motivated no matter how hard you try to talk to them, then you will have to first take away all the luxuries from their lives.

I am now teaching large numbers of young adults age 17-19 years old. I know many students who are very intelligent, but because they are lazy and not motivated, they spent all day playing computer games and they could never hope to get into university. At this age, it is too late for parents to do anything.

So if you really want to do something, better do it when the child is young.

Just to add that for my kids, they get toys only once a year during their birthdays. If they want anything, I will buy it for them only when they have put in hard work. For example, I give them a small reward when they have completed reading a long novel of my choice.

Another important point to note, is to remove all the distractions. Nowadays kids have computers, ipads, PSPs, etc, all these are distractions. Even if you limit the time of usage, after the kids stop playing, their minds will still be thinking of the games, and they will not be motivated to study. I have seen so many students wasted their youths and future because they are addicted to computer games, it is really sad.

thanks so much for your sharing

[Charmaine_chong]

24hr-mum:

my boy is already 5, still has short attentn span since birth (tho slightlly better now) but it seems its a trait that wont be outgrown......just got to channel their attention to something of their interest......

Hi,

I am not sure whether you could read chinese.

This is how the mommy train his son to focus.

和儿子一起成长
她是中国十大杰出母亲，她是资深教育专家。
http://read.dangdang.com/book_12021

Please click here to read-成功来自专注力（1）
http://read.dangdang.com/content_2188359?ref=read-2-D&book_id=12021

[24hr-mum]

thanks a lot!

i m planning to send my boy to brainfit studio’s attention programme nx year

[woody]

My gal just turn 3 and according to her pre school teacher, I was recently told her attention span is rather short which as a mother, I know that too.


I have been trying to help her and am still trying to. What I have done, I am not sure if it’s good enough. I knew she likes pirate so I bought her a set of 48pieces of pirate jigsaw puzzle which is she able to complete it on her own. I sat near her but didn’t help except verbally guide her how to differential each piece and things to look out. More like technic.

Since she is so into pirate, I bought a pirate book with jigsaw puzzle on alternate pages and sticker book etc.

The teacher commented that when she is told to do colouring, she would do that but after a while she will wonder off. That’s something I do with her at home so I am not sure if that’s boredom.

I was told she likes music so I try to create a nice musical environment for her like turning on children but she would say NO turn off, too noisy. And yet once she ponder on my trance CD, she dance to it…

I am in fact very concern about her focusing and concentration. Is there anymore things that I can help her out? Any suggestions?

[24hr-mum]

if she loves to dance, seems like ur child is active, like my boy (tho he doesnt dance. just run ard)


if she can focus on things she likes eg puzzle, then she prob isnt adhd.
my boy can focus on drawg, puzzle, car, train, lego, tv, but not sch wk.
sigh…so if not doing these things, he will not sit still, even now he is 5